


Come Show Me How You Bury Your Treasure, Captain!

by EXOSANGEL



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Abduction, Alternate Universe - Pirate, Bottom Oh Sehun, Comedy, Fantasy, Fluff, Jongin is sarcastic as hell, M/M, Mentions of Blood, Pirates, Romance, Sehun and Jongin want to fuck each other but they are in denial, Sexual Tension, Slow Burn, Supernatural Elements, Top Kim Jongin | Kai, be warned Jongdae makes a lot of lewd jokes, both of them are idiots, normalized mpreg, not your conventional pirateau, they have petty banters all the time
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-20
Updated: 2020-03-20
Packaged: 2021-02-27 19:55:23
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 53,840
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22721317
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EXOSANGEL/pseuds/EXOSANGEL
Summary: Sehun, the only son of the feudal Lord Oh, didn't expect to be abducted by the renowned pirate crew from Kim clan when he went out to take a leisure stroll around the town with Baekhyun.OrThe one in which Sehun tries his best to deny the spark between him and the snarky captain, but fails miserably.
Relationships: Byun Baekhyun/Kim Jongdae | Chen, Do Kyungsoo | D.O/Park Chanyeol, Kim Jongin | Kai/Oh Sehun
Comments: 103
Kudos: 424
Collections: Ultimate Top Kim Jongin Fic Fest 2019





	Come Show Me How You Bury Your Treasure, Captain!

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt #: Self-Prompt
> 
> Trigger Warnings: Abduction, Mild mentions of blood.
> 
> The author's note:  
> Before you read this, I will let you know that this is not your conventional Pirate story filled with graphic violence, blood, bad hygiene or other pirat-ey things that are just not attractive. I can't write unhygienic characters at all. Plus, this is not an exact depiction of pirate lifestyle and I don't claim it to be.  
> Remember this before you decide to point this kind of stuff out. Otherwise, I appreciate constructive criticism ^^  
> Enjoy a lot!

** Come Show Me How You Bury Your Treasure, Captain! **

Helmi was an average-sized coastal island with rocky shores on one side and a sandy cove on the other; a sheer contrast that was the chief attractor of tourists and travelers in the otherwise boring, but peaceful area. It was located in the North-East of the peninsula and was mainly cut off from the mainland, being surrounded completely by the blue, glistening waterbody for about twenty miles before any other solid territory could be seen, except for the narrow piece of the isthmus that connects the two large pieces of land.

The island legally operated under the constitution of the mainland, Jinaeri, and Oh Seojun the valiant sailor of the militia was given vast stretches of lands to control in Helmi in return for his admirable services for the state; as per the feudalism system. There wouldn’t have been anything wrong with it. Oh Seojun was after all known for fighting the deadly sea-dragon and had reddish-blue scales to prove the credibility of the claim, but the legal body of Jinaeri barely cared about Helmi which meant that they never bothered to keep a check. Therefore, feudal Lord, Oh Seojun, the man with the most land and wealth on the island, became the unofficial ruler of Helmi. At present, his influence and authority was to the extent where even the official ruler of the mainland can’t dare to piss him off.

Sehun was the youngest son of the retired military man and wasn’t paid much attention by his father, thankfully. Mr. Oh didn’t favor him because of how pale and delicate Sehun was. He thought that his youngest was too much like his wife and was of no good to him as a son which to some extent was true because Mrs. Oh had tried her best to mold Sehun (whom she happened to have the most control over) as differently as she could from her two elder sons; regretting how they have turned out to be. His elder brothers were ruthless brutes. They merely saw him and each other as a competition in inheritance which meant that they hardly ever got along much to Sehun’s dismay because he was a soft lad at heart all thanks to his mother.

Oh Hansol and Oh Kangin were tyrants who excelled in outdoors. They were great at all sports, took part in military exercises and spent most of their time out on the sea sailing. They were also, very unreasonably, at each other’s neck most of the time and Sehun couldn’t be anymore thankful for their lack of interest in him because they apparently didn’t see their youngest brother as competition anymore. Hansol and Kangin loitered around the island in idle with their friends, terrorizing people mostly, and were completely merciless when it came to the use of their sharp swords. They also absolutely detested education.

Oh Sehun, on the other hand, was a complete opposite. He was well-mannered and a proficient speaker. He loved sitting in their manor’s library for hours (mostly accompanied by his mother) and read as many books as he could. He was greedy for knowledge; not only from the books but the knowledge of the world. Knowledge of something that is far out of his reach. He wanted to see the whole realm. He was hungry for it. Sadly, his father never supported his ambitions and didn’t attach any value to how well-read, informed and mannered Sehun was. He didn’t care that his youngest son was considered as one of the most eligible gentlemen even among the aristocratic folk of the mainland.

In one way or another, Sehun was thankful for his father’s lack of interest in him. It was better this way. There was no one to pressure him into doing things that he didn’t want to do. He could follow his normal routine (that gave him peace and contentment) without anyone breathing down his neck. He had nothing to worry about and can comfortably spend his days in the library. Money was never an issue because even though Mr. Oh didn’t care about him much, he had never denied him of anything he asked for; thus he was schooled with great focus in law because his father at least wanted him to gain something out of that if he ever decided to.

One thing that Sehun wished his father could see was the fact that he wasn’t some damsel in distress type. Like seriously, he could take care of himself when he goes out and did not need guards behind his back all the time. He knew how to work with a sword and dagger (at least enough to be able to protect himself) and he just wouldn’t evaporate into the open sea air if he ever went sailing like his brothers. However, that wasn’t enough for Mr. Oh because he forbade him from sailing or traveling with his brothers (not like Sehun wanted to go with them) and his friends; doing it alone was straightforwardly out of the question.

He was provided with all the expensive books he had asked for, but sometimes it felt like he was a prisoner in his own house. Once he has even complained to his mother. He did not need to be so sheltered all his freaking life. He did not need his father to decide who he should be friends with and who he should not. He knew his way around the world, but he has been fondly told that it was just to protect him. Sehun thought that it was utter bullshit and some kind of warped dream his mother was living in. Now at twenty-three years of age, it was clear to him that his father saw him as a weakness and as a threat to his unrivaled reputation. His father wasn’t doing it all to protect his youngest son, but because it would be a huge blow to his credibility if his own son is captured and called in for ransom.

_Oh, how scandalous._

“Do you think he’ll be there?” Baekhyun, his best friend, was practically jumping in his place from the excitement which caused Sehun to roll his eyes.

“I can’t believe you talked me into visiting Rosings _again_. Father is going to be so mad at us if he knows.” Sehun countered with a sigh and skipped over the small trench. They have visited the place enough for him to memorize all the dents and ditches in the cobbled path.

“When have you ever cared about that before?” Baekhyun shot back before leaning against one of the dirtied walls. Rosings was a tavern-cum-inn about five minutes’ walk from the coast which meant that many travelers of different kinds stopped by there to have their fix of alcohol, wine or rum. Lord Oh, having enough exposure of the sea travelers (people in general really) didn’t want his youngest to sit among such a crowd, especially when Sehun knew nothing of how to deal with them; his elder brothers were of course, a different case.

“I don’t _care_. I just don’t want to get into unnecessary trouble with him, especially now that he’s having problems with my mother. I hope she leaves him for good at last. She is way too nice for him.”

“Something like that happened a good two years ago too, but she is still here.” His best friend pointed out with a snort. Baekhyun was a servant boy that Mr. Oh had bought when the former was of about only four years of age. He has been living with them ever since and has been Sehun’s best friend for nearly ten years.

“You know she is way too nice,” Sehun grumbled under his breath and pushed at Baekhyun’s shoulder to urge him to walk forward. The last thing he wanted was to be caught sneaking out by one of his father’s men; especially near Rosings.

“Plus, she is worried about me. I’m sure I heard father using _me_ against her last night.”

“Why don’t you leave with her too?” Baekhyun questioned and tipped his head up to look at him. Sometimes, it was hard not to laugh at how shorter his best friend was from him.

“You know how she is,” Sehun responded with a resigned sigh.

“She would never take me with her. I don’t know when she’ll realize that I don’t want the luxuries father provide me with.”

“Maybe you should run away. She will have no reason to stay with Lord Oh then.” Baekhyun suggested with a grin which only prompted Sehun to shove him away.

“Just walk.”

…………

Sehun wasn’t sure whether it was a happy coincidence or something else when Baekhyun caught sight of Chen the moment they stepped inside the tavern.

“Oh God! Sehun he is here again today.” Baekhyun clutched down on his arm hard.

“He is here almost daily. No need to be so surprised. I think he arrived here three weeks ago and haven’t missed Rosings for a single day.” Sehun replied with a wince and tried to shake off his friend’s hold.

“I heard from someone that he is leaving soon,” Baekhyun revealed with a wistful sigh. Chen and his companions obviously belonged to an extremely rich crowd what with the different pieces of gold jewelry that they have worn thus far and expensive fashionable clothes with buttons that were also lined with gold. He wasn’t complaining, but even his father wasn’t rich enough to support that for them. Moreover, he hasn’t heard anything about their occupation which was surprising in itself because their town ran on gossip.

“I don’t get your infatuation with him. Chen is obviously a fake name. He is for sure hiding something. You should stray clear of him.” On their first day in Helmi, Chen and his companions have thrown a party in the Rosings and much to Sehun’s surprise have earned the favor of a lot of locals which in his perspective was absurd; quite suspicious too.

“Oh- you definitely should. He’s a menace.” Both, Baekhyun and Sehun whirled around in their place as soon as they heard that and collectively sucked in a breath when they saw Xiumin (what kind of name was that?), who was one of Chen’s companions, standing behind them with an amused smirk. A few steps back from him stood Irene who was looking at them in annoyance though she was too busy fiddling with her expensive gown to contribute to the conversation.

“He didn’t mean that… _any_ of that.” Baekhyun jumped in with a nervous chuckle after a small moment of silence passed between them.

“I am not infatuated with your friend. That’s silly.”

“Nobody cares, pretty boy.” Irene scoffed, it seemed like she was done trying to adjust her dress and have given up on it completely, before waving about her hand impatiently.

“Now move out of the way before I end up shredding this stupid dress to pieces.” Xiumin snorted at that though he didn’t say anything else and walked away with Irene after tipping his head in their direction slightly.

…………  
  


“I can’t believe you said something like that out loud,” Baekhyun complained as soon as they were settled down on their usual table.

“You cleared up the misunderstanding, Baek. What are you sweating about now?” Sehun drawled before reaching out for his drink.

“Well, they didn’t care about that, but still-”

“I was serious when I told you that they are dangerous. Look at them, Baekhyun! Their appearance screams money. They are lavished with gold and the most fashionable attires, yet that lady can’t stand her _dress_. They came out of nowhere. No one ever saw them boarding or getting off a passenger ship. They throw random parties at Rosings and have absolutely no business in Helmi. Why are they here? For amusement? Our island is the last place for that.”

“Your books have made you unreasonably skeptical.” Baekhyun countered with a shake of his head.

“And _your_ dick has made you stupid.”

“Hey! My dick is never wrong.” His friend protested with a frown before continuing.

“Plus, we do have these beautiful shores if you forgot and they are leaving soon.”

“Maybe.” Sehun agreed with the shrug of his shoulders and looked up just in time to catch Chen smirking in their direction.

“I still don’t get why they have to use fake names.”

“Well maybe-” Baekhyun’s reply was cut short from the sudden commotion that arose from the other side of the inn. Frowning to himself, Sehun placed down his glass and craned his neck to see what all the noise was about. From his place, it seemed like two drunk men have gotten in a fight, but the closer he looked the more evident it became that he was definitely perceiving it wrong; especially when he saw one of the men stabbing the other with a dagger.

“Sehun, get up!” Baekhyun shot up from his place sharply and tugged him up too.

“What is going on?” Fuck. He was quite buzzed at the moment and walking was the last thing his wobbly legs afforded.

“Pirates!” Someone else shouted in alarm before his best friend could answer him which sobered Sehun up by a lot.

_There are pirates…_

_Shit!_

_We are under attack._

“Run,” Baekhyun shouted it was a miracle he heard him because everything around them at the moment was chaotic, and tugged at his arm to pull him along. Sehun followed him clumsily and ducked down just in time someone embedded a bloody dagger in the straw wall next to his head.

“What the hell…” He heard Baekhyun cursing in shock and turned his head to look at the dagger which had some kind of a message attached to it. Sehun only got the chance to read his father’s name on it before fire blazed from the opposite side of the tavern. He wasn’t sure if it was started by the pirates or the people of the island to fend the tyrants off and neither did he have the time to stop and think about it. They needed to run out of Rosings as soon as possible; especially after knowing that his father was somehow closely related to this attack. Sadly though, as their wretched luck would have it, they only got about a meter away before someone agilely jumped in front of them with a sword.

It was a guy with exquisite sun-kissed skin. Seriously, that was the first thing that Sehun made out of his appearance even when the Pirate’s face was covered with a black mask. The second thing his intoxicated mind took notice of was his intimidating, serious eyes and mile-long legs that went on forever though he was still a bit shorter than Sehun. The tanned male was wearing a black dress-shirt, tattered at its seams (maybe there was blood on it too because it appeared wet. Sehun wanted to retch) and a cunning glint shone through his eyes as if there was something highly entertaining going around. Sehun begged to differ; especially when he saw Chen leisurely walking in their direction with a grin.

“Say what…” The guy started off-handedly in a surprisingly deep, soothing voice and casually swung around his sword.

“Do you fancy a sail on our ship, Oh Sehun?”

* * *

  
The last thought that crossed Sehun’s mind before someone knocked him out cold was the fact that he ought to tell Baekhyun that his dick was wrong yet _again_ because Chen obviously belonged with the group of pirates that have attacked them and definitely wasn’t a good guy, but sadly, he wasn’t given enough time. Speaking of Baekhyun, he didn’t know where his best friend was or what became of him during the pirate plunder, but desperately hoped that the shorter male was safe, unlike him.

Sehun had woken up at least half-an-hour ago in a well-lit and surprisingly clean brig. There was no imperious scent and stains of blood or signs of mortal torture that he has expected from pirates and even though it was humid down there, it wasn’t overbearing.

_So they are clean pirates?_

At least, that was a nice thing if he was going to stay there for Lord knows how long. He can’t stand dirty and musty places. Of course, there was a possibility that the pirates may kill him, but they wouldn’t have kept him alive this far if they just wanted to do that so Sehun was a bit hopeful. It also appeared like he was alone in the dungeon because there was pin-drop silence around. He was firmly shackled to the wall behind him (which was not all pleasant) and the metal cluttered blaringly loud whenever he moved even an inch.

It was fifteen minutes after he had gained consciousness did someone opened the door to his cell and stepped inside with a lantern. It was obviously a female and upon looking carefully there was no doubt that it was Irene. She was a lot dressed down as compared to how he has seen her at Rosings and he now finally got what she meant when she talked about shredding her dress at the inn, seeing that she has now donned on a loose shirt and leather pants. Her foul mood, however, seemed like it was there to stay forever because she was scowling at him like always. There were two men who came along and upon her instruction, they unshackled Sehun (he was proud of the fight he put on against them) and tied his wrists behind his back with a jute rope before guiding him out.

_Good radiance._

_My head fucking hurts._

Sehun mentally cursed and struggled against the hold on his arm.

“Stop doing that.” Irene, who was walking in the front, snapped before whirling around on him.

“I can do whatever the hell I want.” Sehun snapped back with a glare and flinched back (at least attempted to before he was stopped by the two guys holding him captive) when she retrieved her blade from its scabbard and lightly pressed it against his neck.

“Don’t fucking make me cut that tongue off,” Irene glowered before pulling back her blade and turning back around.

“Bring him to the deck. I can’t stand his annoying voice anymore.” Slightly scared that she would actually go through her threat, Sehun snapped his mouth shut and opted to only glare at the pirates around him.

…………

  
The sea air was fresh, especially compared to the extremely humid one in the brig where he was previously kept, when Johnny and Mark (as they have called each other) unceremoniously pulled him up to the main deck. Sehun looked around himself with squinted eyes – it was dark in the dungeon despite the lanterns – and attempted to bring his hand up to shield his eyes from the bright sun before remembering that he was bound. Making a face, he turned away from the sky (he was sure, he saw some sort of an Eagle) to face the front and went down on his knees with a startled yelp when someone kicked his shin from the back.

“Shit!” He cursed aloud when his knee-caps knocked against the deck and turned his face to the side to look at Irene who was standing over him haughtily with her arms crossed over her chest. Sehun narrowed his eyes to glare at her viciously and was about to remark that what she did was extremely unnecessary (and rude) when the door to the below deck (where the crew cabins were apparently located) opened to reveal Baekhyun.

_Oh, Lord…_

Despair filled Sehun to the brim. He might have been buzzed when they were attacked, but he had enough lucidity to remember that they were specifically targeting him because of something that his father did. Baekhyun did not need to be dragged in this matter, but of course, unfortunately, he was.

The kneeling male watched from his place in dismay as Chen guided Baekhyun towards him (admittedly a lot more nicely then Irene) with a blade pressed to his back. For a second, Sehun expected him to kick his friend’s leg too to make him kneel, but he did no such thing. On the contrary, he looked down at Sehun with a raised brow before releasing a breathy chuckle and shaking his head.

“Irene that was not necessary.”

“Have you seen how _annoying_ he is?” Irene defended herself with a huff.

_Bitch._

“You think everyone is annoying sweetheart.” A guy, who was leaning against the left rail and formerly talking to Xiumin, remarked with a snort.

“Shut up before I start thinking you are annoying too, Junmyeon.” The haughty female retorted though she didn’t protest when the said guy came up to her and wrapped his arm around her waist.

“Okay, okay before you guys go any further, Jisoo go call the captain. He is up at the helm with Yifan and Tao. We should not keep our kind guests waiting.” Sehun couldn’t help, but let out a scoff at that, but he was conveniently ignored.

“Luhan go tell Kyungsoo that we have two extra mouths at lunch today. Junmyeon take Joohyun away because she looks like she wants to kill me-” Chen cut himself off at that with a grin before turning towards Xiumin.

“Is that all? Who is at the crow’s nest?”

“Chanyeol is there along with Yixing,” Xiumin replied while tilting his head back to cast a look up. Sehun doubted that he could see the two mentioned guys from his place, not with how high the crow’s nest actually was.

“Well, let them be there. Chanyeol is loud.” Chen stated with the shrug of his shoulders.

“You are not the one to talk, Jongdae.” So Chen was a fake name. Sehun cautiously glanced towards Baekhyun with an expression which screamed ‘I told you so,’ who was looking right back at him with a sad excuse of a smile.

Right.

They were in a situation at the moment. He can gloat later on.

“Yet, I’m still talking, Minseok.” Jongdae lamely shot back before turning towards Sehun.

“You can get up. There’s no need to kneel.”

“It’s not like I wanted to kneel,” Sehun muttered through gritted teeth before awkwardly standing up.

“Oh well…” Jongdae started again (damn he talks a lot), but he trailed off in the end when someone descended down the stairs of the poop deck where the helm was located.

“Captain!” Mark called out, making Sehun snap his head forward almost immediately because _finally_ someone who would tell him why the hell they were kidnapped like this. Baekhyun seemed to be having the same thoughts as him because he instantly faced the front as well.

The first thing that Sehun noticed about the captain was his golden skin, glowing under the rays of the sun, which immediately brought him to the conclusion that this was the guy who stopped them and _politely_ asked Sehun to join him on the ship with a sword casually swinging from his hand. The second thing (that he wished he didn’t notice) was the sturdy, bare pecs peeking through the black silk shirt (it had laces on the chest which were left completely undone) which was tucked in equally black pants and a silver necklace carved into the shape of a feminine face.

The third thing was the fact that unlike his crew members, the captain seemed to be fonder of silver than gold. His small piercings with a tiny dangling anchor, his necklace and the rings (which looked especially good on his veiny hand) that he was wearing were all made out of silver. His hair even was more of a silver-grey shade (the fringe styled into a comma) than black which was surprising. Pirates weren’t exactly known for dying their hairs; at least it wasn’t a common practice as far as Sehun knew.

Finally, driven by curiosity, he trailed his gaze up to the captain’s face that has been hidden earlier in the tavern. Full black eyebrows, deep, brown eyes fringed with long lashes and slightly droopy lids, a proud forehead, slightly broadened nose, full lips and an extremely sharp jawline. It was definitely a young (so not all pirate captains are old and wrinkled), a handsome face which he would have loved to admire in any other circumstances-

“It is rude to stare.” The captain commented off-handedly before stopping right in front of them.

The sudden remark and the looming presence of the tanned male brought Sehun out of his revere and made him finally realize that he was openly and shamelessly staring at him. Flushing red in mortification, he immediately averted his gaze away and only glared at Baekhyun when the latter ticked his brow at him as if asking what all of that was about.

“It is okay though. People tend to stare while I’m around.” The other male continued in the same flat tone which made Sehun scoff even though he felt his skin burning in shame further.

“I wasn’t staring!” He found himself protesting heatedly.

“Ah- they usually don’t speak.” The tanned male observed with a slight glint of interest in his eyes and waved his hand in the general direction of the front.

“I suppose you were only looking in my general direction then. Something caught your eye on the horizon?” The captain was definitely mocking him. It was so obvious, especially considering the fact that the horizon was nothing but miles and miles of rippling seawater.

“I was j-just…shocked! Shocked to see you because I had a totally different image of a pirate captain in my mind.” His stuttered, but very firm, justification piqued the pirate’s interest even more.

“I see, so I don’t fit your image.”

“You don’t,” Sehun confirmed confidently which earned him a soundless chuckle.

“You must have seen many real-life pirates while sitting in your study, I infer.” The captain mock-acknowledged with a slight tilt to his lips.

“You-”

“Kim Jongin.” The tanned male interrupted in a courteous manner.

“People know me as Kim Kai though I insist you call me by my name.” Sehun would have been touched by the gesture only if the captain didn’t look so smug and insincere in his offering.

“Well, listen here Kim Jongin,” Sehun started with an offended glower which only seemed to have amused the male in front of him even more.

“I would spend my time in the study, reading books as much as I want. There is nothing wrong with it.”

“Did I dare say there was? You ought to forgive me if I did.” Sehun was starting to hate the guy more and more with every sarcastic reply he got.

“I hate that you are looking down on me,” Sehun informed with a scowl.

“I have no intention of offending you, Sir.” The pirate replied back with mock-civility looking as indifferent as one person could; as if he hadn’t just kidnapped him and Baekhyun out of Helmi.

“Yet you are doing it. Looking down on others isn’t nice.” An entertained smile, at last, graced Jongin’s lips which honestly offended Sehun a little because there was nothing funny about what he has just said. He resolutely held the captain’s gaze as the latter continued to stare at him in a reflective manner for a long, painful second before he took a step closer to him.

Sehun gulped, scared that he may have crossed some line. Jongin, after all, was a pirate and he was sure that the other male won’t hesitate even for a second before stabbing him with a dagger-

The taller male has to physically stop himself from recoiling when a single lithe digit came up to rest against his chin; very well aware of the stares that were trained on them.

“I reckon, you have forgotten who I am.” Jongin pointed out with a cunning smirk and slyly tipped Sehun’s head upwards.

“I am a Pirate. We don’t dig nice.”

“Yeah, we _dig_ rough.” Someone snorted from the side and Sehun sharply jerked the fingers off his chin to face the person.

“Chanyeol’s right. We definitely dig rough; all _hard_ and _fast_.” Jongdae supported the newcomer right away with a crooked grin which was suggestive enough to cause both, Baekhyun and Sehun, to flush in shame of what was being implied.

“Now, now, it is too early for you guys to crack your lame puns. Let our guests have a breather.” Junmyeon interrupted with the roll of his eyes. Sehun wondered whether Baekhyun was just as annoyed as him when the pirates called them as ‘guests’ rather than ‘captives’ abroad the ship.

“Jongin, you must put the poor guys out of their misery and tell them why they are here.”

“Right,” The captain agreed and took a step away from Sehun.

“I am sure Mr. Oh here is wondering why we took him instead of his brothers.”

“Cut to the chase.” Baekhyun, who has been silent all this time, finally snapped with a scowl. He tends to shut his mouth when the emotions he is experiencing become too overwhelming and Sehun can practically make out the fear on his face from the pale complexion alone.

“Where is the fun in that, sweetheart?” Jongdae responded in place of Jongin who didn’t look even the least bit fazed by Baekhyun’s outburst.

“Pirates love to chase.”

“They apparently _love_ to swindle people too.” Sehun taunted haughtily.

“My personal favorite,” Jongin commented from his place with a sly smirk and shook his head with a barely contained laugh when Sehun, almost immediately, turned to aim his withering glare on him.

“Anyway,” The captain continued when he got no verbal response from the angry male.

“We took you because it was a lot easier and convenient. Abducting one of your brothers out of Helmi would have been slightly bothersome. Also, I wasn’t in the mood to deal with the unnecessary trouble that they would have stirred up aboard the ship.” Sehun bristled silently in his place when he registered that Jongin, like everyone else, was calling him weak and the most frustrating part about it was the fact that he could do absolutely nothing at that moment to prove the cocky male wrong.

“You see…” Jongin continued as if he couldn’t see that his words have deeply offended the person in front of him.

“I believe that we shouldn’t fight and kill needlessly when we can negotiate.”

“Negotiate?” Sehun seethed as if someone has struck him with the match. He was totally done with the captain’s bullshit.

“Is there a problem with that?” The way the tanned male looked so casual infuriated him.

“You attacked Helmi! One of your stupid crew members almost stabbed me in the head. _You_ kidnapped me and Baekhyun and then threw us in that musty brig. Presently, you are humiliating us in front of your whole crew as if we are some kind of a joke-”

“Let’s not go into semantics.” Jongin cut him off apathetically with a casual wave of his hand.

“But to make it clear…yes, we are negotiating right now. You don’t even want to know where you’d be at the moment if we were fighting.”

“Is that a threat?” Sehun defied with blazing eyes.

“It can be whatever you want it to be.”

“I’d rather have you throw me in the sea instead of staying on this ship.”

“I am sure the bloodthirsty sea creatures would be kinder to you than I am.” The captain replied breezily with a tick of his brow which to be honest, flustered Sehun a little.

“Fine.” He conceded begrudgingly.

“I get why you took me instead of my brothers, but _why_ am I here? Do I get an explanation for that?”

“You are here because I’m not a merciful creditor,” Jongin replied calmly while searching his face for a reaction.

“I _don’t_ owe you shit!” Sehun was just about ready to sock the guy in the face and he really would have if his hands were free.

“You don’t, but your father most certainly do and you are not going anywhere until he has returned me what he has stolen.”

“Bullshit!” The captain clicked his tongue in a mock-disapproving manner.

“Didn’t they tell you that it is bad to curse? We should wash your mouth with the soap.”

“My father stole nothing from you.” Sehun decided to ignore the sheer incredulity of a pirate teaching him manners out of all people.

“You really _think_ that your coward father fought the giant sea dragon and defeated him?”

“I don’t see how any of that is your business.”

“For a bookworm, I’d have to say that you’re being quite slow,” Jongin commented drily and without giving Sehun a chance to respond plowed on.

“Those scales belonged to us. _We_ fought the dragon, not your father. He just simply stole them from us while we were giving him shelter.” The idea that these people helped his father was a funny one. This guy was lying to him even if everything else he said was making sense. Sehun really wouldn’t put it past his father. 

“You see, Pirates aren’t the only ones who like to _swindle_ people.”

“Let’s assume you’re telling the truth,” Sehun started, feeling slightly miffed at the way his words were deviously thrown back at him, after a short moment of contemplation.

“I never really saw my father as an admirable person. He most probably stole the scales from you for bragging rights. Do you want it for the same reason?”

“I didn’t go all the way to the northern sea just to have something to brag about,” Jongin replied with a scoff.

“And I don’t necessarily need those scales.”

“Then why are you taking such pains to get them back?” Sehun glowered, feeling irritated. He was fucking kidnapped out of a tavern when he was drunk for something that wasn’t even needed. He was sure that the tanned male was half-crazy up in his head.

“It is simple,” Jongin replied with a nonchalant shrug.

“Pirates steal from others, they don’t let others steal from them.”

“You can’t take it when someone gives you the taste of your own medicine?” Sehun couldn’t stop himself from making that snide remark.

“Taste of my own medicine,” Jongin repeated in wonder before slightly tilting his head.

“You misunderstand me, Sir.” The way the captain addressed him should be respectful, but somehow coming from him it sounds entirely insincere. Perhaps, Sehun was prejudiced against him.

“I think, I don’t.” He hit back with a frown.

“I would have taken the pain of justifying my claim, but…I don’t quite feel up to it.” Jongin lamented before continuing.

“Perhaps another day.”

“I don’t care.”

“Good,” The captain expressed right away.

“As sad as it sounds, I don’t exactly seek your good opinion.” Sehun felt himself bristling irrationally at that. Something about the other male just rubbed him in the wrong way.

“Why…” Sehun started through gritted teeth.

“Why did you bring my friend into this whole mess?”

“Ah- that!” Jongin turned to face Baekhyun as if he had totally forgotten about his presence.

“Jongdae, what the hell is the other guy doing on our ship?”

“Well, I thought young Mr. Oh here can use some company,” Jongdae responded right away with a mock-innocent grin though he gradually wilted when he saw that no one was convinced.

“Come on! I’m the quartermaster. Don’t I get to decide what booty to bring abroad the ship?” Sehun really hoped that by booty he meant treasure or reward, but the way Irene groaned standing in her place told him that it was another one of Jongdae’s lewd puns. Baekhyun next to him colored up almost immediately.

“Whatever…” The captain muttered with the roll of his eyes.

“Now, everybody go back to your tasks. The fun’s over. Jongdae, you can do whatever you want with these two. Preferably, give them a cabin and stand someone guard outside the door since Mr. Oh here seems to hate the _musty_ brig.” Sehun averted his gaze with a huff when the tanned male stared at him pointedly; knowing very well that the brig wasn’t musty at all.

“Aye, aye captain,” Jongdae exclaimed excitedly which caused Jongin to roll his eyes twice as hard as he did before. However, he didn’t entertain the quartermaster any further. Without uttering another word, the captain turned around and mounted the stairs to the quarter deck. Sehun followed his figure until the other male was half-way up the stairs of the helm before Jongdae interrupted him.

“I suppose you guys will much prefer a cabin than the brig. We have some really nice books in our study as well if you’d like to read.”

* * *

  
The cabin they were given was pretty spacious. There were two beds inside, each pushed up against the adjacent walls, with a table and two chairs placed in the middle. There was also a mirror and basin on the left side while the majority of the right side was occupied by the dresser. It was better than any room they could have gotten in an inn which in itself was confounding.

It wasn’t only the room, the whole ship (he hadn’t paid much attention to it while he was up on the main deck, but still) was massive which was weird because as far as both he and Baekhyun have heard, pirates usually travel in small ships because they sail faster.

“Do you think your father will hand over the scales?” Baekhyun questioned as soon as they were left alone.

“I don’t know,” Sehun replied with a sigh and sat down on the bed on the right side. It was definitely more comfortable than the prison he was locked in before even when the constant movements of the ship made him slightly nauseous.

“I am sure he would be livid as soon as he finds out about my kidnapping, but would eventually say ‘good radiance’ before dropping the matter altogether.”

“So is that a no?”

“Maybe? I really am not sure.” Sehun responded with a shake of his head.

“Mother may force him or she might finally avail this chance to leave him for good.”

“I won’t blame her for that,” Baekhyun muttered lowly before sitting down on the other bed with a sigh.

“I also don’t think the captain will have us killed if your father didn’t concede. I’m not sure what it is, but these Pirates do not appear to me as some average mongers who are looking to stir up mischief and plunder different lands. There is just something different about…this whole ship and crew.”

“What you are saying might be true, but I don’t think we can trust any of them.” Sehun cautioned before throwing his friend a weary smile.

“I am sorry you are stuck here because of me.”

“Nonsense!” Baekhyun immediately refuted.

“I only have myself to blame. You were right. My infatuation with Chen _was_ dangerous and that is why I am here.”

“Let’s just hope for the best.” He honestly, had nothing else to offer.

“Have you noticed that the captain has silver hairs? They look quite natural to me too, but I may be mistaken.” Baekhyun started up again after a short moment of silence.

“It does look quite natural, but I won’t be surprised if he dyed it. I’m sure I wasn’t the only one who noticed that he is rather fond of silver. Did you see his accessories?” Sehun prodded with furrowed brows.

“The necklace caught my attention. The feminine figurehead was intriguing.” His best friend immediately jumped upon the new fact.

“I have a hunch that I have seen that figure somewhere before. She possibly might be a sea deity or something though Jongin didn’t strike me as a person who would believe in myths.” Baekhyun hummed in response before a slightly playful smile took over his lips.

“What’s with you?” His best friend inquired with a curious tick of his brow.

“The captain seems to have an effect on you.”

“He annoys the hell out of me. His sarcastic replies grate on my nerves-”

“You were clearly picking a fight with him and for being a rogue he dealt with you in a fairly calm manner. Were you embarrassed that he caught you staring?” Baekhyun went straight to the point.

“You are my best friend. At least, you should believe it when I say I was just shocked.”

“I am your _best friend_ that is why I know that there was something more than just shock. You were admiring him.”

“Baekhyun, don’t make me punch you,” Sehun warned with a scowl when he realized that there was nothing that he could say to salvage his dignity.

“I was just pointing out,” Baekhyun replied with the shrug of his shoulders before throwing him a wink.

Sehun gladly hurled a pillow at his face.

…………  
  


A guy named Yixing was the one who knocked on their door the next morning with the breakfast tray in his hand. He gave them a small smile before handing over the food and offered to show them around the ship once they were done eating, claiming that staying in the cabin for so long could be overbearing. Sehun was quick to decline, but Baekhyun, who could hardly ever stay still, told the pirate to not care about what Sehun has to say and they would be really thankful to him if he gave them a tour.

Once they were alone again, Sehun had warned his best friend that he was getting comfortable with these people way too soon to which the latter has replied that he simply wants to decode what was actually amiss with these pirates. That reasoning pacified him for the time being because admittedly, he was a bit curious too.

The ship was, like he has previously noticed, quite massive. The below deck alone held ten cabins, five on each side. Under it was the storage room and parallel to the storage room was the brig where Sehun was previously locked up. They had been on the main deck, out in the open air, before when Jongin has so kindly told him the reason why he was abducted, but Sehun hadn’t really paid attention to his surroundings like he was doing now. The first thing that caught his attention was the fact that the sails of the ship weren’t black. They were a softer shade of yellow and there was no black flag (Jongdae, later on, called it Jolly Roger) with skull and bones on it.

The second thing that he noticed was just how clean and maintained the whole ship was. Literally it sparkled like a brand new vessel which might be a possibility, but Sehun still wasn’t feeling comfortable enough around Yixing to ask questions so he swallowed down his curiosity. Baekhyun, however, wasn’t the same. He ran his eager eyes around the whole place and asked every question that came to his mind. He had even voiced Sehun’s question out for him and have shared a look with his friend when Yixing has casually revealed that the ship was almost six years old, if not more. It was confirmed. There definitely was something wrong with the people in this crew or else someone on the ship really loved swiping the deck.

The third thing was the figurehead on the front of the ship. It was the same as the one on Jongin’s necklace though this one was painted in the shades of blue and grey. Sehun couldn’t relatively help himself when he asked Yixing about her.

“This is Anari, the sea goddess. Our ship is named after her.” The pirate has replied before casting a look at the figurehead too.

“Sea Goddess,” Sehun repeated feeling a bit dumbfounded.

“You guys believe in these things?”

“You don’t?” Yixing inquired, though he didn’t look offended; contrary to that he had a somewhat secretive smile on his face.

“No?” Baekhyun butted in with a frown.

“Things of this kind are a myth.”

“A Myth. Is that what you call it?” All three of them whirled around in their places just in time to catch the captain stepping out of the door (that appeared to be the entrance of quite a huge cabin) that was located just under the helm.

_So this is where the captain’s cabin is…_

“Do you have a suggestion to make?” Sehun retorted before crossing his arms over his chest.

“I entertain no such intentions,” Jongin replied listlessly before running a hand through his already tousled silky silver hairs. It was pretty clear that he had just woken up and was most probably headed for the mess hall, the entrance of which was right next to the door that leads to the below deck. The narrow hallway next to the mess hall lead to the back where two bathrooms were situated; the ship despite being massive wasn’t hard to navigate around.

“Is someone in the crow’s nest?” He turned towards Yixing and continued, completely dismissing Sehun’s presence.

“Jisoo is up there. Apparently, Jongdae was annoying her and the only way to get rid of him was to climb up the crow’s nest because he is afraid of the heights.” Yixing replied with a snort. Sehun himself wasn’t able to stop the smile that crept up to his lips though he bit it down a second later.

“I can’t believe he is my older brother.” The captain griped with a scowl before walking past them towards the mess hall.

“Jongdae is Jongin’s brother?” Baekhyun burst out as soon as he was sure that Jongin couldn’t hear them. Yixing looked at him in amusement before he shook his head with a chuckle.

“Kim Minseok, Kim Junmyeon, Kim Jongdae, and Kim Jongin.” The pirate listed with an affirmative hum.

“They are blood brothers. Jongin is the youngest and Minseok is the eldest. I, and Chanyeol are their cousins from the mother’s side. Kyungsoo came with Chanyeol. I don’t know if you have heard it or not, but we are the renowned pirates of the Kim Clan. Basically, everyone is supposed to know us or so we are told, but seeing that you two didn’t even have a clue I conclude that it is a false claim.” Now that was something that could lead them somewhere. Sehun lifted his eyes to gaze at Baekhyun who was looking straight back at him. There was _definitely_ something wrong with these people.

“Jongin is the youngest,” Sehun repeated with furrowed brows.

“How old is he?”

“Twenty-five.”

_What the hell?_

_He is just two years older than me._

“What about Minseok? How old is he?” Baekhyun questioned when he saw that his friend has fallen silent.

“Thirty. Junmyeon’s twenty-eight and Jongdae’s twenty-seven.”

“Why is Jongin the captain then?”

“He is the strongest,” Yixing informed with the shrug of his shoulders. Sehun wished that he’d tell them some more about it, but the expression on the pirate’s face told him that they would be getting nothing out of him about that.

“What about the other people in the crew? Are they related to your family in some way too?” Baekhyun plowed on with a contemplative gaze.

“No,” Yixing shook his head and lead them down the quarter-deck.

“We were originally only seven. Yifan, Tao and Luhan are Chinese. They joined our crew after we saved them from drowning. Mark and Johnny pursued us on their own. Joohyun and Jisoo are sisters. Jongin knew their mother. He took them in after their family was killed.”

“Why would anyone kill their family?” Sehun demanded in a horrified manner.

“They were indebted to the feudal lord of their town,” Yixing replied with a wince and pushed open the door that was under the quarter-deck, exactly in the same spot as Jongin’s cabin though this one was smaller.

“Anyway, this is the study. You can spend some time here if you want. I’ll leave you alone to it.”

“Thanks,” Sehun mumbled, his fascinated eyes already drinking in the image of so many books that looked quite rare.

“You are welcome.” The pirate responded with a chuckle before he made his way towards the exit.

“And,” He started again just before stepping out.

“Don’t even think of running…or well, jumping in the sea? Jongin is going to be the one at the helm in about five minutes. He may seem indifferent, but you really don’t want to make him angry. He is the captain of this ship for a reason. Try not to test his limits too much. I know you are angry at us, but provoking the captain seriously won’t do you any good. People in your situation mostly chose to play safe than rash.” Sehun wanted to protest that Jongin was the one provoking him in the first place, but then he remembered what Baekhyun has said earlier about him trying to pick a fight with the captain and decided to swallow down his words.

“Should I consider it a warning?” He inquired instead, with narrowed eyes.

“No, consider it a piece of friendly advice.”

…………

  
Sehun didn’t go out of the cabin they were given for the next two days, neither did Baekhyun. None of them voiced it out, but he knew that they were both scared of what the future held for them. Yeah, there was a possibility that they won’t be killed, but that was just uncertain and even if they weren’t killed there were so many more things that could go from bad to worst. The impending feeling of doom induced a despairing kind of muteness around them. Sehun couldn’t even remember the last time he was with Baekhyun and they were this silent.

It was at the start of the third day did Baekhyun ask him about the books that he has picked up from the study they visited two days ago. Honestly, Sehun had completely forgotten about them in favor of mulling over their unfortunate circumstances (never in his life had he thought that the first time he’ll sail on a ship would be with Pirates) and was actually surprised that Baekhyun was the one who reminded him of that. While his mother has been benevolent enough to let Baekhyun be educated with her son, his best friend wasn’t one for reading books like him. He was more interested in managing numbers so it appeared a bit funny to Sehun that Baekhyun was the one who compelled him to bring out that book on the legend of Anari.

They had collectively picked out that book out of curiosity. Something about the way Yixing and Jongin talked about it had made them interested in the sea goddess. There ought to be something about her if the whole ship was named after her. Moreover, Jongin wore the figurehead necklace as well. Anari played a huge role in the life of these pirates and Baekhyun confidently claimed that they would definitely get some lead after reading about her. However, what they read made them certain that it was indeed just a myth.

It was a typical story about some beautiful, young maiden who despite being a human was raised by the sea-nymphs. They found her abandoned in a basket as an infant while the flowing water of the stream attempted to carry her away and decided to take her under their care.

_How nice._

_Just what you should expect from a fairytale._

Anyway, the beautiful baby was pretty popular among the sea deities and was blessed by them with different extra-ordinary abilities. She was able to breathe under the water, swim like she was born to do it (Baekhyun snorted so hard when they read that) and was even able to communicate with the other creatures as if she was one of them. By the time she reached puberty, her beauty was known to all and of course (Baekhyun laughed out loud this time) the freaking God of Sea has to set his ‘gaze’ on the innocent girl.

Naturally, the chaste maiden refused to be courted by the God and needless to say her refusal made the God so angry with her that he banished her to the deepest depths of the sea. Things happened (the whole story is too long for him to recall again), for some very odd reason Anari didn’t die in the unnatural habitat (Seriously, Sehun’s skin gets wrinkled if he stays in water for more than ten minutes) and continued to suffer alone until one day the God of Sea finally had mercy on her. He repeated his previous proposal and almost delirious with loneliness she accepted it right away. After some more extensive details and numerous events, the God of Sea was finally _punished_ by the sea itself.

_“Are they for real? The God of Sea was punished by the fucking sea?” Baekhyun had inquired incredulously before shaking his head._

_“This thing is ridiculous.”_

Obviously, Anari automatically became the ultimate, benevolent sea Goddess and got the tremendous powers that her husband possessed after his death. Everything was merry and fine, but ( _oh, no_ ) evil humans disrupted the peace of the sea which troubled the Goddess a lot. Apparently, there is something that she is supposed to protect in order to keep the balance of the seas and humans once almost got it. They would have gotten it if one kind soul (yes, the hero came into the picture) hadn’t saved her life at the last moment. Without any doubt, the Goddess of Sea (starved for some love) grew attached to the man, fell in love with him, married him against all the odds and had a son who was apparently a human but possessed supernatural powers.

“Let me guess, now there is a whole lineage of her that looks like a human, but possesses powers?” Baekhyun predicted before slamming the book shut.

“This is such a fairytale. I can’t believe we wasted our time reading even half of it.”

“I was interested. You don’t have to read it if you don’t like it.” Sehun replied with a scowl, but nonetheless, placed the book aside.

“Oh come on, Sehun this is utter bullshit-” Before his best friend could complete his sentence a knock sounded on the door. Both of them shared a look but decided to stay silent. The pirates only came to their cabin to deliver meals and now was not the time for one which meant that they were there for another business; perhaps some news from his father. The door opened after a second nonetheless and Jongdae poked his head inside. He gave away a friendly grin when he spotted them on Sehun’s bed and welcomed himself inside without any further delay. Behind him entered the captain (God bless Sehun), but unlike his brother Jongin remained leaning against the frame of the door.

“It seemed like you guys don’t plan on coming out of your cabin anytime soon so we came to you on our own.” The quartermaster started and stared at them expectantly; most probably looking for a response.

“We are prisoners abroad your ship, Sir,” Baekhyun responded curtly and glared at Jongdae who for once looked serious. Sehun knew that his friend was hurt or at least a bit wounded after they found out that Chen was a pirate. It made him realize that his best friend was pretty serious about his infatuation back when they were still ignorant.

“You treat yourself as one.” The quartermaster corrected which made Baekhyun scoff.

“I didn’t know we had the liberty to move around without supervision.”

“You don’t,” Jongdae affirmed with a nod.

“Then we are prisoners.” His best friend announced decisively with a scowl before averting his gaze angrily towards the wall. A tense silence followed their disagreement though Jongdae soon again broke it by heaving a sigh.

“Look, I know you guys hate us, but we are seriously not as bad as you think we are. We don’t do this all for the sake of it. We don’t steal…well, not in the literal sense of the word and we kill only when it is necessary.”

“Killing is killing. You can’t justify it.” Sehun retorted with a frown.

“Oh, really?” Jongin challenged from his place.

“Let’s say I try to stab your friend here and you have a blade in your hand. What will you do?”

“I’ll stab you first,” Sehun responded in an irate manner right away, disgusted by the sheer possibility of it.

“I assume the killing would be justified if you do it?” The captain mocked, making Sehun snap his mouth shut right away.

“We kill because we have to protect. Not everyone has the privilege to be sheltered like you, princess.”

“You are a tyrant-” Sehun started in a fit of anger though Jongin cut him off.

“And you are not?” The fire of rage that he saw in the captain’s eyes scared him beyond belief and it became scarier with every step that the other male took in his direction.

“I am _not_ a tyrant.” No matter, how scared he was, he just wasn’t about to let the captain spout shit.

“But I think you are,” Sehun balked at the guy in front of him with an incredulous expression. What the hell was this stupid pirate talking about?

“I heard you are well acquainted with the law.” Jongin started when Sehun failed to give him a response.

“Lord Oh is known for killing people without any mercy or reason. Have you done something against it? He steals from the poor people of the Helmi, but I suppose it is not something _you_ should worry about because all is fun as long as you get those expensive books.” Sehun opened his mouth to defend himself, but the captain plowed on without giving him any chance.

“Pirates aren’t the only tyrants out there. You self-proclaimed well-bred gentlemen who care about nothing, but their own luxury are just as bad.”

“I n-never took part in it!” Sehun countered with a glare though the excuse sounded weak even to his own ears.

“All that money, fine clothes and luxury you enjoy come from the money that your father has stolen from others. You are trying to tell me that you didn’t know his ways? We both know that’s a lie. You may not be directly involved in it, but you are most definitely a part of it.”

“Jongin that is enough.” Jongdae chastised his brother (most probably after he noticed just how ghostly Sehun’s complexion has gotten) who leveled Sehun with a final glare before retreating back to his previous place with a locked jaw. Only if looks could kill.

“We know you can’t trust us.” The quartermaster started again after another tense pause; looking more weary than convincing.

“It is mutual. We can’t trust you too, but you have to understand that this whole thing is not as simple as you think it is. We didn’t kidnap you for revenge or fun and we promise to drop you back in Helmi or anywhere else you want safely after we have achieved what we were aiming for.”

“What you said is not appeasing if that is what you were _aiming for_ right now. You are just using us.” Baekhyun pointed out blankly.

“I won’t deny that,” Jongdae responded bluntly and leaned back in his chair.

“We definitely had a design in our mind. Why else would we go through all the trouble?”

“I don’t get the point of your visit,” Sehun broke in with a frown, feeling like the intruders in their cabin have overstayed their visit which was ridiculous because it was _their_ ship and he was a prisoner. It was just…what Jongin said has bothered him enough already and he wanted to be left alone so that he could mull over it carefully. The fact that the captain’s words sounded so frightfully accurate unsettled him. Why should an outlaw get to say such things to him, but then again it wasn’t like what Jongin said was wrong. It was true. It was _all true_ and that is what made him uncomfortable the most.

“The point of our visit was to inform you guys that your father has done nothing according to the instructions that we have left for him. Actually, according to our source, he has been _hiding_ from the public so far which is honestly ridiculous.” The quartermaster provided before restlessly tapping his fingers against the sides of the chair he was sitting on.

_I’m not even surprised._

“Your stay here seems long,” He proceeded cautiously.

“How long?” Baekhyun grilled with narrowed eyes.

“Half a month? Maybe even more than that.” Jongdae estimated coolly, not appearing deterred by his best friend’s hostile behavior.

“And you expect us to be okay with it?” Sehun demanded.

“You can either treat yourselves as prisoners or I don’t know, actually take up this opportunity and _enjoy_ the sail? I heard that you have always wanted to travel the sea.”

“Not with pirates.” Sehun cleared up instantly.

“Of course, not with us.” Jongdae agreed with a chuckle (though it sounded a bit bitter) and shifted in his place to properly face them; looking surprisingly sober.

“There is something we are obliged to protect.” He revealed with a solemn expression.

“I fail to see how I and Baekhyun are connected to it?” Sehun expressed with a confused frown.

“Your father is a threat to its safety. You are solely here because this was our last resort at stopping him. We let him off the hook once when he stole from us, but now he thinks that he could get away with everything else too.”

“If you think by kidnapping me you are putting my father through some filial misery then you are greatly mistaken. He never really cared about anyone. Right now, he must be livid because his reputation as some invincible man has been damaged, but that is all. He’d probably thank you in the future for ridding him of my presence.”

“You are being quite severe on yourself,” Jongdae observed with a crooked smile.

“I think, I am being quite practical actually.” Sehun countered with the shrug of his shoulders.

“Nonetheless,” The quartermaster dismissed the matter with the wave of his hand.

“Giving your father any kind of misery wasn’t our intention. The attack on Helmi is supposed to be a warning of retaliation and even if it doesn’t deter your father it will instill fear in people who are working with him. It was also a way to let them know that we are well aware of what they are up to because they are mistakenly confident of their discretion.”

“What about Baekhyun? _He_ has nothing to do with this all.” Sehun got it that he was there because of his father, but his best friend didn’t deserve this all.

“I admit, I made it to be a joke back on the deck a few days ago and it was insensitive of me.” Jongdae started while getting up from the chair and dusting his pants.

“I guess I owe you an apology for that, _but_ trust me your friend is safer here on this ship.” Baekhyun scoffed without missing a beat.

“You are saying I am safer with Pirates than-”

“…than the man who was going to sell you off to someone involved in prostitution. Yes, he exactly meant what he said.” Jongin interrupted swiftly before straightening up in his place as well.

“You visited Rosings quite often. I’m sure you know Jung Haejo.” Baekhyun and Sehun paled in their places from horror because they knew Mr. Oh was very capable of doing that and Haejo has been one of the guests who waited upon Sehun’s father over the previous two weeks.

“Lord Oh made a deal with the guy while we were at the tavern. It was coincident that Irene overheard him.” Jongdae supplied helpfully and walked closer to his brother.

“You don’t have to worry though. We stole the contract papers. Consider yourself free now.”

* * *

  
Things were significantly different after their talk, at least, they were different for Baekhyun. His best friend’s contempt for the pirates has rapidly evaporated after knowing that they have saved him from befalling such an awful fate. Sehun didn’t blame him for that. Even his own ill feelings for his captors have decreased significantly. What the captain has said was right. He wasn’t any better and if they did kill to protect (he still didn’t get what they were trying to guard) then he was no one to find errors in that. Plus, they ought to have some _good_ in them if they saved Baekhyun. The self-proclaimed kind and generous people of Helmi would have done nothing for his best friend.

_Hypocrites…_

_At any rate, the Pirates are better than them in this aspect._

Though both of them collectively decided to give the pirates some benefit of doubt, they didn’t act on it until a day later. Baekhyun was tired of staying in the cabin whole day and Sehun honestly wanted to take Jongdae up on his offer of _enjoying_ the sail, but that didn’t mean they still didn’t have their reservations. So being the braver one, Baekhyun was the one who went out to test the waters. His best friend had come back five minutes later with two cups of water in his hands and have claimed that he came across no one while he was going about his task. There was someone on the helm and from the back, it looked like it was Minseok. Other than that, it was uneventful.

His first visit outside seemed to have given Baekhyun confidence because at night he went to fetch their dinner from the mess hall on his own. Sehun sat still on his bed, feeling regretful that he had given into his best friend whims again and was ready to follow the shorter male to the mess hall when the cabin door opened to reveal Baekhyun.

“What took you so long?” Sehun fretted as soon as his friend has closed the door.

“I was worried sick.”

“Seriously, Sehun,” Baekhyun snorted with a cheeky smile.

“You worry too much. They are…well, I won’t call them nice, especially the captain and Irene, but most of them are tolerable.”

“Tolerable my ass. The captain’s awful.”

“To you.” His friend added with a wink and placed the tray of food on his bed.

“I told you before, but you have this tendency to pick a fight with Jongin every time you come across each other.”

“That is because he is insufferable. This pirate crew may be the nicest of the people for all I care, but the captain is obviously conceited beyond belief.” Sehun argued with a frown and reached out for one of the served plates.

“Maybe,” Baekhyun concurred with a thoughtful expression.

“But I also think _,_ that there is something else about the captain that flusters you.”

“He _irritates_ me. Everything about him rubs me in the wrong way.” Sehun contradicted vehemently.

“Geez! No need to get worked up over it. I was just suggesting.”

“Your suggestions are useless.”

“Yet it looks like I hit a nerve just now.”

“Baekhyun!” Sehun whined which caused his friend to laugh.

“Okay, okay. Let’s eat.”

…………

It has officially been a week since they were abducted out of Helmi and there was still no news from Sehun’s father. Baekhyun was the one who conveyed that message to him because Sehun still refused to step out of his room. He wondered how his mother was doing. The only thing that kept her sane in that cruel manor was he and Baekhyun; with both of them gone he was worried that she’d go crazy. Perhaps, she has left his father already. Sehun really hoped that she had so he could ask the pirates to drop him and Baekhyun somewhere else.

_Oh lord…._

_I’m going to retch._

No matter how hard he tried to distract himself with different thoughts or things he just couldn’t ignore nausea that was making him miserable. The storm didn’t really bid him well at all. The fact that he has never been on the sea before Jongin and his crew abducted him wasn’t doing him any favors as well. Sehun wasn’t exactly one to feel motion sickness, but sailing on the ship had disoriented him even in the starting few days before he finally got used to it. It was no surprise that the storm made him want to puke his guts out especially when it was his very first experience. It was pretty wild from his point of view. For a second, he had been afraid that the whole ship would capsize and drown them all, but thankfully nothing of the sort happened.

Baekhyun had left the cabin for mess hall precisely before the sea under the ship had started acting up and Sehun assumed that he was stopped there for precautionary measures (his friend was light enough to be blown off by the strong wind) by one of the crew members who was present there as well. Still, Sehun wished that his best friend was there to give him some company or at least fetch some kind of medicine from the crew’s surgeon because his head was positively spinning by that point.

“Fuck it!” The sick male growled under his breath before clumsily getting up from the bed. He stood there, trying in vain to attain his balance again, for a minute or two before staggering towards the door; hoping beyond all hopes that Baekhyun for some reason would be on the main deck. Sadly, he was not, instead the first person Sehun saw when he climbed up from the below deck was Jongin who was leaning against the left rail appearing a bit lost as he stared far into the sea. He was also apparently drenched from head to toe.

_What the hell?_

_Did he stay out during the storm?_

“You are out of your cabin.” The captain drawled as soon as he noticed his presence.

“You are wet.” Sehun shot back lamely which caused the other male to face him with a ticked brow.

“I didn’t notice that.” Jongin gravely confided and casually turned his back against the rail before bringing up a hand to push away the wet locks that were sticking to his forehead. Sehun gave him a scowl.

“Well…” The captain started again with a smirk when he got no reply.

“Yixing is in the mess hall.”

“I didn’t ask.”

“Does not change the fact that he is in the mess hall,” Jongin responded breezily before straightening up in his place.

“Are you-” Sehun broke off in the middle of his reproach when he felt the bile rising up his throat and instantly staggered his way towards the rail before leaning over it. He caught the captain moving closer to him in his peripheral vision, but decided to ignore him in favor of heaving his breakfast out in the open sea.

_I hate the sea._

Sehun bemoaned once he was done and would have most probably turned around to go back to his cabin to brush his teeth if it was not for another wave of nausea that washed over him. Letting out a silent curse, he leaned over the rail again and spewed out whatever was left in his stomach.

“Storms can be rough,” Jongin observed from the side when he saw Sehun tiredly slouching against the wooden banister and reached out a hand to awkwardly pat him on the back.

“Yixing is still in the mess hall.”

“Oh, for heaven’s sake!” Sehun glowered weakly before swatting his hand away and standing up straight.

“Do I look like I care about where Yixing is right now? Why would I even go to him?”

“How else are you going to get rid of that nausea?” The captain inquired apathetically.

“Yixing is the surgeon?” Sehun asked instead of answering, _finally_ connecting the dots.

“No.”

“Then why-”

“He is the healer,” Jongin replied with the shrug of his shoulders which made Sehun groan.

“Whatever that means.” The sick male muttered under his breath sorely before turning around to make his way towards the mess hall because _Yixing_ clearly knows what to do of his nausea.

…………

  
“Oh, look who has finally decided to join us.” Sehun (who was hesitantly trailing behind Baekhyun with his eyes trained to the floor) snapped his head up almost involuntarily as soon as he heard Chanyeol’s deep voice; the pirate’s statement very obviously directed at him.

“ _Damn._ I have heard that the storms bring out all sorts of creatures from their bills, but I still wasn’t expecting this one.” Irene deadpanned from her place, unsurprisingly sitting next to Junmyeon, which instantly made him frown. What the hell was her problem? Last time he checked, she was the one who belonged to the group of people who kidnapped him; not the other way around. 

“You shouldn’t make fun of him like that.” Baekhyun defended his best friend though Sehun clearly did not miss the cackle he failed to suppress at the end. Frowning at the shorter male in betrayal, he tried to shuck his friend’s hand off his arm, but Baekhyun only tightened his grip and forcefully dragged him in.

“Don’t tell me your friend can’t even take a joke.” Irene scoffed while nursing a huge mug of something that looked like beer.

“My _best friend_ would have taken the joke lightly if the person making it hadn’t threatened to cut his tongue off before,” Baekhyun replied easily before pushing Sehun down on the seat right in front of Irene who was at that moment looking at him with a raised brow.

“You hold grudges, pretty boy?”

“I don’t,” Sehun replied with furrowed brows and glared at Baekhyun when the latter latched onto his arm. He wasn’t surprised that his friend didn’t trust him not to run away, especially when the shorter male had to struggle with him for about ten minutes straight before Sehun had finally given in and agreed to join everyone in the mess hall. He regretted that decision greatly now because everyone was present there except for Minseok and they were all for some reason looking at him.

“Very well then you can have this,” Irene replied and pushed the mug she was holding in his direction. Sehun looked at her in confusion for a second before doubtfully reaching out to take hold of the drink offered to him.

“What is this?”

“My offering of peace.” She replied with the shrug of shoulders. Sehun had read enough books on pirates to know what that meant.

“I-I meant what sort of drink is it?” Irene, for a second, looked like she was judging his intelligence before she finally shook her head and gestured vaguely in the direction of the mug.

“This is Grog. I’m sure you will like it, at least, your friend here didn’t have any problem with it so…” She trailed off at the end of her sentence and looked at Baekhyun who immediately jumped in.

“She is right. It has a citrusy flavor. You will love it.” Sehun stared at the drink in distrust for another second, contemplating whether it was worth killing his taste buds for or not. He wasn’t really fond of drinking and when he did, it was always good quality alcohol, though before he could come to any decision a hand came from the back and snatched up the mug.

Letting out a small noise of surprise, Sehun turned around to follow the movements of the hand with his eyes and balked at Jongin when the latter casually settled down in the empty seat on his left, holding _his_ drink. The other male looked at him with a raised brow as he brought the mug up to his lips and drank away.

“That was mine.” Sehun finally found his voice after the captain has already placed the empty mug down.

“So?” Jongin pondered while leaning back in his seat and stared straight at him. Sehun hated himself when for some very infuriating reason he found himself growing hot and self-conscious under the intense stare.

“So!” He repeated incredulously and narrowed his eyes at the captain.

“That was my drink. Who are you to squander the offerings made to me like that?” Jongin instead of looking repentant or apologetic, like any person should have, only appeared mildly amused.

“Squander the offerings…” The tanned male reiterated after him lowly with a breathy chuckle before looking at him with a teasing glint in his eyes.

“Now which Pirate book did you learn that fancy dialogue from?” Sehun scowled as soon as he heard that, the muffled chuckles from others didn’t make him that happy either, though he wasn’t able to make any sort of retort against it because ‘squander’ indeed was a word he learned from his books and he has till now believed that Pirates used it in their speech frequently.

“Do not change the topic.”

“I am not,” Jongin responded right away and gestured towards the now empty mug.

“The drink has alcohol inside it.”

“What about it?” Sehun demanded while crossing his arms over his front.

“I am no surgeon, but I’m sure alcohol won’t do you any good after the whole day of being queasy.” That was again something that made full sense and something that Sehun couldn’t argue against so he opted to only deepen his scowl.

“That was still mine.” He muttered under his breath though no one seemed to be paying attention to him. They were looking in his general direction, but it was the captain they all were staring at with intrigue.

“Alcohol is not good for him after being sea-sick all day, huh?” Jongdae started after an awkward moment of silence.

“Is there any doubt about that?” Jongin deflected with a frown.

“No, but since when have _you_ started caring about who got sick on this ship or who didn’t?” The quartermaster probed with a slightly smug tilt to his lips.

“Are you implying that I don’t care?” The captain questioned blankly.

“Are you implying that you do?” Jongdae shot back with a mischievous grin which only caused his youngest brother to roll his eyes.

“I don’t know what you are up to and I don’t care to know it too. Stop bothering me,” Jongin concluded with a scoff before getting up from the chair.

“I am going to go and see if Minseok needs something.”

* * *

“This is so intricate.” Sehun slightly tipped his head to the side where Baekhyun was standing when he heard that before once again staring down at the map smoothed under the glass slab on Jongdae’s desk. They have bumped into the said Pirate on their way down to Chanyeol’s cabin (Baekhyun was bored and Sehun, himself, was kind of getting sick of being stuck in the same place all the time) and after seeing Sehun’s fervent interest in the map that he was holding Jongdae has kindly invited them to his room with the claim that he has a bigger and clearer version of the same map there.

“Who is the cartographer?” Baekhyun inquired in awe and faced Jongdae who was sitting on one of the spare chairs in the room.

“Kyungsoo. He mostly spends all his free time drawing maps if he is not busy cooking.” The quartermaster replied with an amused smile.

“Chanyeol disturbs him here and there, but he knows how to control the giant oaf.”

“He has some really detailed knowledge of the land topographies and geography.” Sehun was surprised to know that he did too. He had read so much and have unconsciously learned _so_ _much_ that sometimes it even surprised himself. Yeah, he was no cartographer like Kyungsoo and he didn’t know the technicalities of mapping, but he could predict the exact direction they were in and distance of one landmark from another just by knowing where they were. It was kind of thrilling to realize that there were just a few small miscellaneous, inhabited islands that he didn’t know of.

“We have traveled a lot.” Jongdae rationalized with the shrug of his shoulders.

“Yeah, but how does he know so much about the bathymetric details of the sea? Look at these exact depths, possible predictions of the floods, direction of the water flow at different points, the ocean floor mapping, storm points, he has even labeled the exact kind of marine life found at each part and there are some I haven’t even heard of. It almost seems like he sees the seas as clearly as we see the land.” Sehun rambled while tracing his finger along the black crosses littered on the map, marking sunken ships.

_How the hell does he know so much sunken ships?_

“Oh- Kyungsoo doesn’t have that kind of knowledge. Jongin is the one who helps him with that.” The pirate clarified with a snort.

“Trust me, when I say the captain knows the sea like the back of his hand.”

“How does he-” Baekhyun started with a frown though he broke off when the door of the cabin was pushed open.

“Hey, Dae,” Minseok’s distinct voice greeted. Sehun turned around in his place to look at him and straightened up in his place a little when he saw that Jongin was with his eldest brother as well. For some very bizarre reason, his heart rate picked up.

“You have some unexpected company with you here today.” The eldest Kim continued with a pleasantly surprised smile on his face.

“Yeah, I bumped into them in the hallway. Sehun was interested in the map so I offered to show him the bigger one in my room.” Jongdae responded while waving his hand in the general direction of his bed.

“Why don’t you two sit down and tell me the reason for your visit?”

“You sound so refined.” Minseok observed with a scoff and sat down on the messy bed. Jongin seemed to be agreeing with his eldest brother because he just wordlessly shook his head at the quartermaster and sat down on the chair that was placed a bit too close to the desk Sehun was standing by. Maybe it was a weird observation and maybe only he noticed it, but the scent that the captain carried along with him was that of a cool sea breeze; slightly musky and salty, but very, _very_ fresh – almost as if the idiom ‘breath of fresh air’ was personified.

“I try,” Jongdae responded in a blasé manner and patted the chair beside him while looking at Baekhyun. His best friend reluctantly sat down with a small, thankful smile which only left Sehun awkwardly standing in the room. Not wanting to be the odd one out, he moved towards the only empty chair left (the one right next to Jongin) and attempted to settle down though the unexpected hand on his wrist stopped him abruptly.

Jerking a bit in surprise, Sehun sharply turned to look at Jongin who was busy frowning at the quartermaster rather than paying any sort of attention to him which the youngest Oh was thankful for because otherwise, the tanned male would have noticed him admiring his big veiny hand (seriously his wrist looked so small in Jongin’s hold that it was slightly embarrassing) and the sheer contrast his glowing complexion made against Sehun’s own pale one.

_Fuck._

_Why do those rings look so good on his fingers?_

“Jongdae, how many times have I told you to be mindful of your weapons?”

“Hey! All my weapons are in the drawers…” Jongdae protested vehemently, but he trailed off in the end with a sheepish smile when he saw Jongin picking up the cloth covering the seat and apparently a dagger as well. Sehun was thankful that the other male has seen something was amiss with the chair because he wasn’t planning on picking up that cloth before sitting.

“So that was where it went.” The quartermaster noted which only caused the captain to throw the cloth at his face.

“He could have gotten injured, you fool.” Jongin scolded his brother with a glare.

“But he didn’t.” Jongdae tried to wave the matter off, but his youngest brother wasn’t having any of it.

“That doesn’t mean-”

“Seriously, Jongin. What is your deal these days? You have been extra prissy.” The quartermaster interrogated with a raised brow. His question seemed to have only irritated the captain further because Jongin’s features morphed into a scowl so scary that if it was directed at Sehun he would have melted in his place right that instant. However, Jongdae, on the other hand, had the audacity to look smug.

_He has a death wish._

“You know what, Sehun?” The said male’s eyes widened a little in surprise at the sudden address from the quartermaster.

_Oh, boy._

_Why is he dragging me in?_

“I think…you have a very rare effect on our captain.”

_What?_

“Jongdae.” Jongin gritted out in warning, but Jongdae blissfully ignored him in favor of properly facing Sehun who stood still in his place like a deer caught in headlights!

“You make him go soft and that in turn makes him irritated.” Heat climbed up Sehun’s cheeks as soon as he heard that.

“Shut it, Dae. I just don’t want any of them to get hurt as long as they are my responsibility.” The captain denied with a scoff.

“That, we all know is bullshit.” Jongdae countered breezily.

“Wow, I think I know someone just like that.” Baekhyun butted in with a cackle before Jongin can make a response and pointedly stared at Sehun who was trying his best to normalize his complexion.

“Though _soft_ isn’t exactly the case-”

“I thought you guys were here for some important business.” Sehun cut his best friend off with a warning glare and turned towards Minseok who was looking at them all with an amused smirk.

“Right.” The captain contracted instantly.

“We are anchoring a few kilometers off from Voxdes bay in about an hour. The island is pretty loose on security so send Tao and Jisoo to get supplies; send more if you think it is necessary, but overall just tell them to be on guard.” Jongin ended his sentence looking a bit wary which honestly surprised Sehun. The captain has been nothing, but confident ever since they met so it was slightly weird to witness him being insecure.

“I am not sure what kind of retaliation we should expect from Lord Oh so the best policy is to expect the worst.” The tanned male continued with his lips pressed in a thin line.

“We should send someone stronger then. I will take over steering since Yifan is still resting after his shift. You should take Jongdae with you. Dae can get all the needed supplies and you can go about your business.” Minseok suggested with a thoughtful expression.

“When are you meeting, Jaehyun?” Jongdae questioned, now looking more serious than mischievous.

“I will go to meet him as soon as we dock. You should see me in half-an-hour and then we will go meet the guy who is supposed to dispatch my letter for Sooyoung.” Jongin responded before getting up from his seat with a sigh.

“Let’s just hope Jaehyun would have some good news. I don’t want to take drastic measures.”

“Everything will be fine,” Minseok assured before leaning back on the bed with a curious expression.

“Who is this guy you are supposed to give the letter to?”

“I don’t know him,” The captain responded instantly. It was clear that he wasn’t comfortable with that fact.

“If it was in my control I would have liked to do it through Jiyoung like always, but we have to sail northwards for that which we can’t because I want to stay closer to Helmi.”

“It will be alright if Jaehyun knows him.” Jongdae guaranteed while mindlessly playing with his gold earring.

“That is the problem. Jaehyun doesn’t know him well. He is just some fanatic Voxdes’ local who cares too much about some eagle god and runs the shady business of getting uncensored letters posted.” Jongin informed with a frown.

“This is a risk, but I want to reach out to Sooyoung as soon as possible.”

“You are thinking too much.” Minseok snorted from his place and shot up to sit straight in his place again a moment later as if struck by a sudden idea.

“Anyhow, I was thinking that maybe you guys should take Sehun and Baekhyun with you.”

“I think Jongin made it pretty clear that this whole thing is dangerous, Minseok.” Jongdae objected immediately.

“Yeah, but they don’t need to go with Jongin. Besides that, you are more than capable of providing protection in case the need arises though I don’t think it will.”

“I agree with Jongdae here. It is too risky.” Jongin sided with the quartermaster before carefully scanning Baekhyun’s and Sehun’s faces.

“Plus, we can’t trust them too.”

“Excuse me!” Baekhyun burst out looking clearly affronted though he was ignored.

“It was just a suggestion.” Minseok conceded with the shrug of his shoulders.

“I just think that they need to be on the land, even if it is for a little while. We are used to be on the sea, but they are not. It must be pretty sickening. Yixing was saying the same thing the other day. Sehun positively looks like he is homesick.” All eyes in the room turned towards Sehun who fidgeted awkwardly under the sudden attention but otherwise refused to utter a single word because the deduction hit too close to home. Yixing was right. He was indeed sick of being on the sea constantly. It was taking away his appetite and was giving him an incessant headache. The fact that he greatly missed the comfort of his home, his _mother_ was making him feel miserable further.

“Umm…Sehun and I know how to use a blade.” Baekhyun informed hesitantly before directing a concerned look towards his best friend.

“I mean, I am kind of sick of the sea too. A short walk will do well to both of us if it’s not a bother, of course.” A short moment of silence followed Baekhyun’s reluctant appeal – Sehun was hyper-aware of Jongin’s fixated gaze on himself and wished that the captain would just refuse (though that would be sad) so they can leave the room – before Jongin finally spoke up.

“Fine. They can go with Jongdae.”

…………

  
They docked at the very north of the island, which marked the most desolated part of Voxdes according to what Minseok has told them, and had to walk through a strip of dense Jungle before actually setting foot into the civilization. Sehun was honestly a bit worried that someone would still manage to see the ship and would report them to the authorities. He was surprised to realize that the thought of going back to Helmi was a lot less pleasing than it was in the start, but pushed the notion to the back of his mind in favor of focusing on not tripping over protruding roots of the trees. Jongdae and Jongin didn’t seem particularly worried about it so he decided against voicing out his worries. Baekhyun, however, didn’t have the same mindset and perhaps, hesitation, like him because he asked (no one in particular) what would happen if someone accidentally did happen to see the ship. Jongdae was quick to pacify his worries by claiming that ‘no one can see the ship even if they wanted to.’ Sehun didn’t get what he meant and from the look on his best friend’s face it was rather obvious that Baekhyun didn’t either – nevertheless, the quartermaster didn’t bother himself with any sort of elaboration.

Jongin had muttered something about ‘being safe and careful’ under his breath gravely before disappearing into the throng of people crowding the market place; the black cloak that he was wearing to disguise himself fluttering in the air behind him. It was subtle and Sehun most probably noticed it because he was a sharp observer, but the captain has been tense ever since they set foot on the land – they do say a Pirate is the safest on the sea.

Jongdae, who was wearing a familiar cloak, has then toured them around the place as much as he can while buying the supplies and told them a little about the people and the culture of the place though that was all news to Baekhyun, not Sehun for the obvious reasons. No matter what these Pirates said and no matter how much they made fun of him for it, he greatly trusted his books and knowledge. He even believed that he knew more about the island they were at than Jongdae and Jongin combined…though the north-side of the island being deserted was a piece of new information to him, but still!

By the time they were done with the market place, their hands were filled with different cloth bags and half-an-hour has already passed since the captain’s departure. Sehun thought that the bags were quite heavy, but Jongdae and Baekhyun didn’t look like they were breaking their backs while carrying theirs so he decided not to humiliate himself by complaining and silently resolved to start doing more exercise.

The small duration of time was apparently also enough for Jongdae to melt the ice between them (he didn’t even realize how the quartermaster did it) because somewhere in the middle of buying beef chops and ink for Kyungsoo Sehun has started feeling comfortable with the pirate. He was still a bit cautious, nonetheless, in any case, he couldn’t deny that Jongdae was a fun person to be around. He was jolly, eccentric (a lot like Baekhyun), smug, playful, but most of all he was genuine; something that he hasn’t seen in people who considered themselves to be better and superior to the outlaws.

Sehun may be prejudiced, but he wasn’t blind.

It was over-all a fun experience, especially when Jongdae materialized a Rose out of nowhere and in an extremely polished manner presented it to Baekhyun who to Sehun’s delight and amusement turned the exact shade of Rose that was being given to him. The quartermaster, on the other hand, has looked as proud as one person could when he gauged the shy reaction that he has received.  
  


“We ought to buy some clothes for you guys.” Sehun slightly tipped his head down to look at the over-sized shirt he was wearing (it belonged to Chanyeol) and then lifted it back up to meet Jongdae’s gaze.

“You don’t need to.” He replied hesitantly while chancing a glance at Baekhyun who has somewhat recovered from the previous incident.

“Why not?” Jongdae inquired with a tick of his brow and turned around in his place to look at them.

“No particular reason,” Baekhyun replied with the shrug of his shoulders before self-consciously turning over the flower in his hand. The pirate’s eyes dipped down towards his best friend’s hands for a second before he turned back around with a snort to continue walking.

“I think there is a reason.”

“There really isn’t-” Sehun decided to back up Baekhyun’s claim though Jongdae cut him off.

“You didn’t buy any souvenirs and now even clothes because it is our money – the Pirate money which _you_ think came from plundering and looting.”

“We think? Where else do you get all the money from, if not stealing?” There was nothing condescending about Baekhyun’s tone even though his words may be considered otherwise. Thankfully, the quartermaster didn’t look the least bit offended.

“We get paid. We are assigned to protect something and in return, we are paid. We never stole unless it is information that is very important or well…if we are in dire circumstances.” A laugh bubbled past Sehun’s lips before he could stop it.

“A Pirate getting paid?” He wasn’t able to keep the incredulousness out of his voice.

“Fine. Let us consider that you are telling the truth. What are you protecting anyway? You keep on saying you want to protect something, but never tell us what it is.”

“Anari.” Both Sehun and Baekhyun stopped dead in their tracks as soon as they heard that. Jongdae, after walking a few steps ahead stopped as well when he noticed that they weren’t following anymore and traced back a few of his steps.

“Anari?” Baekhyun repeated in disbelief.

“Not exactly Anari, but something for her,” Jongdae replied with a slightly contemplative expression on his face.

“You know…” His best friend started with a frown.

“If you don’t want to tell, you don’t have to, but at least don’t make a fool out of us like that.”

“I am not making a fool out of you.” The Pirate responded somberly.

“Anari is some fictional sea goddess.” Sehun butted in with a scowl.

“That is what you believe,” Jongdae claimed with an enigmatic smirk on his face.

“Now you will tell us that you belong to her blood-line and have some supernatural powers as well.” Baekhyun mocked with the roll of his eyes which pulled out such strong laughter from the Pirate that it shocked Sehun for a second. His best friend seemed pleased with the reaction, thinking that Jongdae was laughing at the sheer absurdity of the notion, but for some reason, Sehun felt like that was not the case.

The quartermaster wasn’t laughing at what Baekhyun _said,_ he was laughing _at_ Baekhyun and his naivety. 

“No, I won’t tell you that, don’t worry,” Jongdae assured with a grin, which was a bit too wide and suspicious in his opinion, and waved a hand over his shoulder to beckon them to continue walking again.

“Anyway,” The Pirate started again once they were out on the open street, away from the crowd of the market.

“We were talking about clothes. Trust me when I say, you guys need to buy some of your own. We don’t bring as many clothes as we own on the ship so it is not possible for the other crew members to continue lending their clothes to you.”

“So you guys do have a home,” Baekhyun concluded which earned him a snort from Jongdae.

“Obviously, we do,” The quartermaster affirmed before shaking his head with a chuckle.

“But not to stray from the main topic. You guys need a couple of shirts and pants unless you want to go around the ship naked _or_ if you want to borrow clothes from Joohyun and Jisoo. I’m pretty sure Joohyun will be happy to throw all her dresses in your face and call it a day, but something tells me that you don’t want that.” Jongdae broke off his sentence with another grin though this time it was a lot more suggestive.

“I, of course, won’t have a problem in either case if you two are into that kind of stuff…dresses would look nice on you.” The last part of the sentence was aimed at Baekhyun, Sehun had no doubt because the quartermaster was looking straight at his best friend who was once again burning red in mortification.

“Damn, you have no shame.” The taller male remarked with an amused chortle which only earned him a cheshire grin from the pirate.

“No _shame_ in that.” The quartermaster countered and stealthily turned into a narrow alley. Sehun was sure that he and Baekhyun would have altogether missed Jongdae if they weren’t already paying attention to him.

“You may not be a thief, but you most definitely move like one,” Baekhyun commented as soon as they were alone in the dark, narrow space.

“It comes with experience,” Jongdae replied, appearing a bit sidetracked, before throwing a brief glance at them over his shoulder.

“Anyway, Jongin is here.”

“Where-” Sehun started with a frown (because he clearly sees no signs of the captain), but he cut himself off with a muffled scream when someone literally dropped from the sky right in front of him.

“There he is.” The quartermaster responded with a snort though Sehun didn’t pay him any attention in favor of _comprehending_ where Jongin dropped from; unless the captain was some superhuman he couldn’t have jumped off the high roof of the building beside them.

“You are late, Jongdae.” The captain grouched with a scowl.

“Kind of.” Jongdae agreed with the shrug of his shoulders.

“I was showing them around and lost track of time.”

“You always do. They are not an excuse.” Jongin pointed out with the roll of his eyes before continuing.

“How did it go? Did you get all the supplies?”

“Yup. Everything is here and no one bothered us so technically everything went well.” The quartermaster responded with a grin while showing off the bags in his hands.

“From that grin on your face, I think everything went a tad bit too well.” The captain commented with an amused smile and casually turned towards Baekhyun.

“Nice flower by the way.” It was honestly funny to see Baekhyun sputtering out in mortification from the compliment and Sehun would have teased him about it if he still wasn’t confused over how Jongin appeared in front of him out of nowhere.

“H-How did you do that?” He finally mustered up the courage to question the tanned male.

“Do what?” Jongin faced him with a ticked brow.

“This building is too high. Where did you jump down from?”

“There is a window on the second floor.”

“There is not,” Sehun responded with a frown and turned his head up to look at the mentioned building so he can confirm what he was saying, but to his surprise (and embarrassment) the window indeed was there.

“You have an eyesight issue?” The captain taunted with a smirk.

“I don’t!” Sehun instantly defended himself.

“I swear there was no window there a few seconds ago.” Jongdae’s loud laugh resonated around them as soon as Sehun claimed that.

“What are you trying to say? My brother somehow materialized that window out of nowhere?” The pirate inquired before shaking his head with yet another laugh. To Sehun’s dismay, even Baekhyun looked at him with an amused smile which honestly offended the taller male a lot. He wasn’t even joking. There was no window, but Jongdae was right too. How did it suddenly appear there out of nowhere?

“You must have missed it, Sehun.” His best friend consoled and patted his shoulder.

“I guess…” Sehun agreed reluctantly. What Baekhyun and Jongdae said made sense, but he just couldn’t shake off the feeling that something was terribly wrong there.

“How did it go with Jaehyun?” Jongdae asked, once again looking a lot soberer than he did before. It didn’t look like he was making fun of Sehun a moment ago.

“It went well. We met in a café, talked for a while, he told me where to find the man I have to dispatch the letter through and then we left.” Jongin responded before gazing towards the entrance of the alley.

“We should get out of here, first. I will tell you the rest when we are back on the ship.”

……………

The alley – the second one they entered to meet the guy – was long (it seemed like it led somewhere), shady, smelly and narrow. Seriously he could just extend his arms and would touch the walls of the buildings on each side…though he didn’t because they were jagged, covered in dirt – and God knows what – and if he didn’t see it wrong then there was fungus growing along one side too. Sehun cringed physically when Jongin brushed against one of them and wondered just how many germs the captain was carrying on himself currently.

It was pretty obvious that the alley wasn’t cleaned for a long time and from the looks of it, Sehun was quite sure that no one would bother to for a very long time which honestly was sad because he was ready to heave his breakfast out at the moment from the rotten odor alone. The heaps of rubbish spilling out of the containers and littering the walking path were literally making breathing difficult for him. However, it appeared like he was the only one bothered by it because Baekhyun along with the Pirates walked forward as if their sense of smell doesn’t work at all.

Sehun acknowledged that maybe he was the one being too sensitive, but still, he was really thankful when they turned around the corner and left the stinky place. It was another case that the alley just led to another, equally disgusting, alley. By the time they actually reached the place they were supposed to meet the guy at he had almost choked himself in an attempt of not inhaling the putrid air around him. He just wished that the letter guy would come soon and they would be able to leave the place as fast as possible.

Of course, that did not happen and they had to wait for him to show up. Universe just hated him and so did Baekhyun because his best friend wiped his dirty hand against his shirt after having placed it against the slimy wall. Shoving away the shorter male, Sehun made his way towards the frail-looking metal stairs attached to the left building and sat down on one of the cleaner steps to rest his legs.

“This place stinks,” Jongdae commented after a minute or so of silence.

_So I wasn’t the only one thinking that._

“Of course, it does. Have you seen all the garbage on the pavements?” Baekhyun pointed out with a snort and leaned against one of the relatively clean walls.

“How do people live in these buildings? The smell must be everywhere.” Sehun butted in with a frown and tilted his head up to examine the old, alighted structures. They were two-story buildings and the roof on the second floor was pretty low since he could easily see the grey water tanks that were placed on the roof-top. Scooting a step higher, the tall male craned his neck slightly to examine what else was there but backed down on his place again when all he saw was more waste.

“I don’t think the people who live here are the type to care about how their surroundings smell,” Jongdae observed just in time someone entered the alley from the opposite end. Sehun, instead of giving an answer, instantly faced the newcomer and seized his figure up curiously till he has reached his slightly wrinkled face.

_That is one ugly scar._

He mentally mused to himself before giving the other male another once over; though this time it was a lot more fleeting because he hadn’t found anything interesting in his first attempt. The guy was boring, had the typical thug look to himself and had an ugly scar on his face to prove it. There was nothing extraordinary or striking about him and Sehun would have really looked away if he hadn’t taken notice of the golden chain wrapped around the letter guy’s neck _just_ in time. It wasn’t even the chain itself that caught his attention, but the big, red pendant that was dangling from it loosely.

_Oh boy…_

“This is a trap.” The taller male burst out while getting up from the stairs anxiously. He should have noticed it earlier. The whole place, the whole set up with ambiguous corners and deserted structures. It was a perfect place to ambush someone. They have been too blind and lax to notice it.

“What makes you say that?” Jongdae inquired with a frown before casting another glance towards the man walking towards them.

“He looks fine to me.”

“That guy is not the one you are looking for.” Sehun asserted forcefully before continuing.

“People in Voxdes worship Aetos and they shun the color red. A religious fanatic won’t be flaunting around a red pendant out of all the things.” He reasoned and turned to face the captain.

“He is not alone either. I am positive that there are people hiding on the roofs of these buildings and I doubt they will be friendly to us.”

“You have a sharp eye.” Jongin complimented with a crooked smirk though it didn’t look like he was as worried as Sehun thought he ought to be. It honestly annoyed him a little because they were in trouble and in any other case, he wouldn’t have given two fucks about it. He really shouldn’t. They were Pirates which meant that they were out laws and he shouldn’t be helping or worrying about them, but these Pirates were kind of nice (nicer than a lot of people that he has ever met), sincere and have helped Baekhyun out of a horrendous situation even if they were not obliged to.

“You knew that we were being set up?” Jongdae demanded from his younger brother with a raised brow.

“No,” The captain replied before finally straightening up in his place.

“But I know how to study body language and that guy is definitely nervous. Plus, he keeps on looking up.”

“What are we going to do now?” The quartermaster questioned while taking out a blade out of its sheath. The letter guy, who was not the letter guy, but a fraud, must have seen it because he paused about fifteen to sixteen steps away from them. He continued looking at them in silence for a moment before he drew his own blade out. That seemed to have been some sort of a signal because out of nowhere more than six guys jumped down in the alley.

_Fuck._

_I am sure there are more._

“Take Baekhyun and Sehun to the main street. I will take care of everything here.” That was a very stupid idea. There was no way Jongin can fight all of them alone, but Jongdae didn’t seem to see any fault in it and obediently urged them to run towards the free end of the alley.

“What about-” Sehun started to protest, but the quartermaster gave a forceful push at his back to make him move.

“He will be just fine. You should worry about yourself and get out on the main street of the market as soon as possible; especially if you get separated from me.” It wasn’t very noticeable, but there was a lilt of urgency to Jongdae’s tone that convinced Sehun to shut up and start running.

“What if we are not able to?” Baekhyun huffed out right after they have turned around the corner.

“Well, we will be in unnecessary trouble then,” Jongdae replied grimly before letting out a shout of warning which Sehun perceived a little too late because he ran straight into a guy who carried around him a very revolting stench and particularly reeked of alcohol. It took Sehun two long seconds to push down nausea rising up his throat before he finally gathered enough presence of mind to duck away from the blade lashed in his direction. Sadly, he wasn’t very successful in doing so, but _thankfully_ , the quartermaster was a skilled fighter and he easily parried off the attack before the blade could touch Sehun.

“Come on, run!” Baekhyun pressed with a shout before another one of the foul-smelling men dropped in front of them out of nowhere.

_Fuck!  
Are they dropping from the sky?_

It took the bulky man some time to steady himself, the time which was enough for both of them to run past him. For a second, Sehun was sure that the guy would follow them with his scarily big sword, but he was interrupted in his pursuit by Jongdae who has already gotten rid of the man Sehun had bumped into earlier.

“Damn, he is good.” Baekhyun marveled which would have amused Sehun in any other situation, but this.

“Ogle at him all you want once we are safe, but now we need to keep moving.” The taller male snared his best friend by his arm and started pulling him along towards yet another turn that they had taken earlier. Somehow, they managed to make it to the main alley that led to the open street of the market without bumping into any other hygienically challenged person, but their luck lasted only till there because just when they thought that they were safe (they were about three to four steps away from the entrance), a guy with a horribly dirty face jumped down from the nearby ledge.

Baekhyun, who was running in the front, let loose another scream and scooted back to avoid the blade of the sword in the nick of the time. Unfortunately, that caused him to bump into Sehun’s running figure. The taller male cursed out loud when he lost his balance and fell right beside the heap of the garbage that was gathered in the corner.

“Fuck! Sehun he is coming towards you.” Baekhyun’s warning rang inside his head loudly, before Sehun, under the influence of his survival instinct, reached out for the first thing in his reach, even though it was disgusting, and hurled it at the face of the guy who was now hovering above him. The taller male didn’t get the time to stop and see what he has thrown that had caused the scary man to moan in pain and drop his sword because Baekhyun tugged at his arm to pull him up. Kicking the sword further down the alley for better measure (and to stall the bloodthirsty man who now obviously wanted to cut Sehun into pieces) Sehun followed his friend out of the alley and didn’t stop running until he was sure that they were not being followed by anyone.

“Fuck.” Baekhyun gasped out once they had stopped.

“Yeah, fuck.” The taller male agreed with labored breath and crouched down to get some much needed Oxygen inside his lungs. It was the first time he had confronted danger face to face like this and _lord_ was it scary.

“You think they followed us out here.”

“I don’t think so. This place is too open and crowded. I’m sure people won’t treat them kindly if they bring their weapons out here.” Sehun observed before finally standing up. The adrenaline was still pulsing through his veins though he was a lot calmer now and it was only then when he had completely gotten control over his breathing did he finally realized that both of them had blades that they could have used against the enemy to save themselves.

_I take it back._

_We definitely don’t know how to use a blade..._

“How are Jongin and Jongdae going to find us?” He continued while pulling off a rotten banana peel sticking to his shirt.

_Lord!_

_I need a shower._

“You are really not making it hard for us.” Jongin’s sudden sarcastic remark that came out of nowhere startled both, Baekhyun and Sehun to an extent that none of them would want to admit. However, it was the taller one of the duo, who turned around to scowl at the captain.

“We didn’t intend to make it hard if you failed to notice.” Sehun snarked back before taking notice of the tanned male’s disheveled form. His hair were wildly mused and his shirt was ripped in the front though it didn’t look like he was hurt. There were some smudges of blood on the captain’s hand and face, but from how casual the other was acting, Sehun was sure that the blood wasn’t his’.

“I didn’t, but you are awfully exposed to the enemy this way.” Jongin casually pointed out with the shrug of his shoulders and held up the bags (that Sehun would admit he had totally forgotten about) which consisted of all the supplies that they have bought earlier.

“Care to share our burden?”

…………

“Lord, I think the stench won’t ever leave me alone,” Sehun grumbled under his breath as soon as he stepped out of the bathroom in his freshly showered form and threw a cursory glance towards the door of the other bathroom when he heard the sound of the running water from inside.

_It must be Baekhyun._

The tall male mused to himself absentmindedly before ruffling his dripping locks in hopes of getting rid of the water that was slowly trailing down from his scalp to his face.

“Is the bathroom free?” Sehun snapped his head forward when he heard the question and mutely nodded his head in agreement when he saw Jongin standing in front of him with a change of clothes in his hand. He was still wearing the torn shirt from before, which was explainable because they only came back fifteen minutes ago, though his face and hands were free of the blood that was staining them previously.

“I didn’t know you were a clean freak.” The captain remarked conversationally when he didn’t get any verbal response and took a step closer to him – well, closer to the bathroom because Sehun was standing right in the middle of the entrance.

“I am not.” Sehun refuted right away.

“You ran to take a shower as soon as we got back on the ship even though I and Jongdae were the ones covered in blood.” Jongin pointed out with a snort which caused Sehun to feel just a tad bit guilty though he would never admit that out loud to the other male. To be very honest, the thought of Jongin and Jongdae wanting to shower first didn’t even cross his mind till then.

“That doesn’t make me a clean freak. The stench was horrible.” Sehun contradicted with a grimace and scowled when the tanned male only raised a brow at him in a challenge; as if he wanted to make sure that his obvious disbelief was conveyed properly.

“In any case,” Jongin finally inferred after a second of silence passed between them.

“You should get that treated.”

“Get what treated?” Sehun inquired with a creased forehead and instinctively took a step back with rounded eyes when the captain brought his fingers up to brush them against his pale cheek.

“What a-are-” The taller male started in a bewildered manner (panicking internally when the heat started to slowly climb up his chest), but Jongin cut him off.

“You must have gotten it scuffed when you fell.” The tanned male observed casually before pulling back his hand just in time Junmyeon rounded the corner. The elder male stopped walking when he saw them together, hesitated a bit, but nonetheless eventually came to stand beside his brother.

“You haven’t gotten showered yet?”

“The bathroom just got free.” The captain responded with the shrug of his shoulders.

“Why? Do you need me for something?”

“The crew has gathered in the mess hall to discuss our further plans,” Junmyeon responded with a grim expression before he turned to face Sehun.

“You should come and eat too. Baekhyun is there already.”

_Ah- so it must be Jongdae in the shower then._

“I will be there with Jongdae in ten minutes. You guys get over with lunch till then.” Jongin instructed with a hum and at last walked past Sehun’s figure to enter the bathroom. Junmyeon turned to face him as soon as his brother has slammed the door shut.

“Shall we?”

…………

_It is definitely bad news._

It was the first thought that crossed Sehun’s mind as soon as Jongin told them about his meeting with Jaehyun and Joohyun seemed to be agreeing with him because she voiced out those exact sentiments to the captain.

“I know,” Jongin agreed with a sigh.

“We have to be extremely careful and use our cards well. This could lead to unnecessary bullshit, I am not in the mood for.”

“I think if you plan well then this could be to your advantage.” Baekhyun contradicted the three of them with a thoughtful expression…well, he at least contradicted Joohyun and Jongin since Sehun hadn’t exactly voiced out his thoughts.

“Yeah?” Jongin challenged while sparing Baekhyun a glance.

“Yeah.” His best friend confirmed assertively.

“I mean, think about it,” The shorter male continued.

“If you kidnapping Sehun out of Helmi was enough to scare a significant amount of people to an extent that they wanted to have nothing to do with Mr. Oh then how many would scamper off once you give them a small glimpse of defeat.” Sehun did not like the sound of it.

“That sounds interesting.” Jongin approved with a nod though before he could continue, Yifan interrupted him.

“I honestly, don’t get it.” The tall Pirate vacillated with a frown.

“We are the Pirates. Sea is supposed to be the place where we are the strongest. They can never know these waters the way we do and Lord Oh ought to know that.”

“He definitely wants to gain something out of this rift,” Baekhyun remarked.

“Perhaps, he wants to test out the waters or maybe he wants to observe the way you guys fight to find your weakness. I can’t be so sure, but what I am certain of is the fact that they will only send a small fleet of fighters with average caliber.”

“Oh Seojun isn’t seeking a victory against us, he is seeking a way to _defeat_ us in the future when the matters are much more severe which means that he will want minimal damage in this fight,” Jongin concluded, looking slightly impressed, before turning to face Baekhyun who immediately nodded his head.

“Judging from how you were ambushed today they are certainly following us.” Kyungsoo pitched in with a frown.

“It can’t be on the Sea. Do you think they somehow got the wind of your meeting with Jaehyun?”

“I think it is my meeting with the retched letter guy they found out about.” The captain refuted with furrowed brows.

“You should let them catch you on the Sea if they voluntarily seek to do that.” Baekhyun urged, a gleam of excitement shining through his eyes. Sehun wasn’t surprised. His best friend has always loved adventures and he was really a genius when it came to these sorts of things.

“Think through this wisely. You know the sea and you know what they are planning while they are totally clueless. Use this to your advantage. Choose the best area, set a trap, lead them there and make it as traumatizing an experience as you can then send back a survivor or two to make sure that they know what _happened_.”

“Baekhyun!” Sehun scolded his friend with a horrified frown as soon as he was done speaking though the shorter male only threw him a sheepish grin.

“You don’t need to feel bad for these people, pretty boy. They all deserve it.” Joohyun butted in with a snort which caused Sehun to glare at her.

“Stop calling me that.”

“But you are pretty.” She justified with feigned innocence.

“I am _not._ ” Sehun opposed as strongly as he could, while an embarrassed blush covered his cheeks.

“Captain, what do you have to say about that?” Joohyun inquired off-handedly, as if it was the most normal thing to do so and as if it was any of Jongin’s business, before smiling cunningly at the captain who to his credit didn’t appear even a little bit fazed. Instead, he ignored his crewmate completely and turned to face Baekhyun again.

“I like your idea. I will flesh all the details out with Minseok and Kyungsoo later. We’ll let you know if your help is needed.” Baekhyun mutely nodded his head in agreement with a smile and turned to throw Sehun a teasing smile though the taller male refused to look at his best friend directly.

“I didn’t get a chance to say this before,” Jongdae suddenly started and got up from his seat to sit right in front of Sehun.

“But I think it was really impressive how you immediately knew that the guy was a fraud. We would have been in huge trouble if it was not for you. That letter was really important.”

“I am sure you guys would have been just fine.” Sehun waved off with a bashful chuckle; the way everyone was suddenly looking at him made him feel a little shy.

“Didn’t your captain say that he knew the guy was a fraud too?”

“He did know that.” The quartermaster confirmed before thumping Jongin’s shoulder.

“But he only suspected the guy after you told us that it was a trap. He wouldn’t have thought about it, otherwise.”

“I just got lucky this time.” The taller male replied modestly which caused his best friend to snort.

“He is being humble right now.” Baekhyun exposed before continuing. 

“Sehun has a really sharp eye. I have learned from experience that nothing good comes out when he spends more than half-a-minute observing someone.”

“That is remarkable.” Joohyun complimented though it didn’t look like she was convinced.

“Did he warn you against us back in Helmi then?” Baekhyun snorted as soon as he heard that.

“Believe me or not, but he observed you and Jongdae for a whole minute straight before declaring that you guys were shady and I should at all costs stay away.” Jongdae actually let out a burst of loud, annoying laughter at that.

“Oh, he is definitely remarkable then.” The quartermaster agreed before looking straight at Sehun.

“What was it that made you suspect us?”

“Chen was obviously a fake name. That in start made me curious, but honestly, there was just something about the way you guys carried yourselves that was different from others. Your movements were not restrained or artificial. I don’t know how to explain it, but looking at you closely made it clear that you guys were not who you were portraying yourself to be.”

“Wow, that is some in-depth observation. You really do have a sharp eye.” Jisoo acknowledged with a whistle before throwing Mark, who was sitting right beside her, a glare when he draped an arm over her shoulder. Mark didn’t seem to mind it though and continued to look at Sehun as if he was the most interesting thing in the whole world – he was not.

“I thought Joohyun gave us away. The way she walked like a man in that dress- fuck! What was that for?” Jongdae broke off with a painful wince when Joohyun forcefully pinched him on the side.

“Shut your trap up, Jongdae.” She sneered and pinched his side again for good measure.

“Captain! I am being harassed right in front of you.” The quartermaster whined which only earned him a scoff from Jongin.

“You deserve more.”

* * *

  
Two weeks of being around the crew and Sehun was already reminded of his earlier deduction regarding the Pirates – there was certainly something sketchy about them; something different, something that clearly set them apart from those of the same profession (if you can call it that) as them. Baekhyun was right. They were not here to loot or plunder just for fun. Jongdae and Jongin themselves said that they were trying to protect something (he has decided to trust them on that) even though they have not expanded much on it, but Sehun was sure whatever they were protecting wasn’t ordinary. It was definitely more important than those dragon scales that his father bragged about – considering how dangerous that dragon was, those scales were pretty important.

  
“You are thinking hard.” Baekhyun pulled Sehun out of his thoughts, like always.

“I am,” The taller male confirmed before skeptically looking around the mess hall. They were currently sitting in the very corner of it alone save from Kyungsoo and Chanyeol who were hurdled close to the stove on the totally opposite side and were waiting for the other crew members to join them for the dinner.

“Is it about your father?” His best friend inquired curiously while rhythmically drumming his fingers against the tabletop.

“Not quite,” Sehun responded a bit distractedly, his eyes sharply fixated on Kyungsoo and Chanyeol.

“Irene was telling me the other day that your father still doesn’t show any signs of letting up, but on the brighter note – at least for the captain and the crew – they have finally decided on what course of action they are going to take regarding the whole fiasco of confronting the enemy on the open Sea. I didn’t really ask for the details about that.” Baekhyun provided conversationally and kicked Sehun’s shin when he finally noticed how unfocused his friend was.

“What has gotten into you?”

“Have you noticed that whenever Kyungsoo is cooking something on the stove Chanyeol is always around?”

“Okay…” Baekhyun trailed off dubiously before turning around in his place to gaze at the duo in question.

“Maybe they are close. I, well, noticed that they are quite fond of each other the other day when I walked in on them kissing-”

“Wait, really?” Sehun temporarily forgot all about being wary of the pirates and their unusual behaviors.

“Yeah, they were pretty embarrassed.” The shorter male revealed while sheepishly rubbing the back of his neck.

“In my defense, I just wanted to use the restroom.” Baekhyun continued with the shrug of his shoulders before turning back around to directly look at him.

“Anyway, why is that a big deal?”

“Nothing much, but don’t you think it is weird that Chanyeol is always around whenever the fire is involved?”

“Come again.” Sehun let loose a weary sigh before properly meeting Baekhyun’s gaze.

“Chanyeol. He is always around whenever someone needs fire. Yesterday, I even heard Johnny telling Mark to call Chanyeol because he needed to light up something.” That had confused Sehun beyond belief.

“His role on the ship might be related to it.” Baekhyun pointed out with furrowed brows.

“I don’t think it is that simple, Baek. Let’s say it has something to do with his role, but what exactly is it? Have you noticed that they don’t even have any kind of fuel here? No coal, no oil, no wood no nothing. How do they even start a fire?” Sehun barreled on with a frown.

“ _I think_ you are looking too much into it.” The shorter male waved the matter off with a chuckle, but Sehun wasn’t ready to let go of it that easily. It has been on his mind for a whole day now. Not only that, he still wasn’t quite over the whole ‘window appearing out of nowhere’ incident.

“Ever since we came abroad the ship, they only stopped by an island for supplies once. They have meat and other food items conserved in that ice-cooler, but how come the ice never melts? There is a metal plumb line for water supply all around the ship, but where does all the freshwater come from? They use it freely even in the restrooms.” Baekhyun for second looked dumbfounded before he shook his head.

“I…don’t know. I mean, I didn’t pay much attention to it before, but now that you pointed it out the whole thing does sound a bit weird.”

“That is what I have been trying to say-” Sehun cut himself off in the middle of his sentence when he saw Jisoo and Joohyun entering the mess hall.

“Let’s talk about it later.” His best friend proposed with a smile. Sehun, after a moment of hesitation, nodded his head in agreement.

…………

  
The dinner was a hearty affair, but Sehun still couldn’t shake off his earlier conversation with his best friend no matter how hard he tried. It got to the point where he was caught intently staring at Chanyeol by the guy himself. Sehun had been so startled when the tall pirate has waved his hand in front of his face and has proceeded to ask with a confused frown whether there was something on his face. Sehun had panicked for about three seconds straight before Jongdae has saved him by claiming that _‘yes, Chanyeol, I see stupidity,’_ and well that had led to a half-an-hour long fight which conveniently caused everyone to forget about the fact that he had been staring.

After that, Sehun had tried being more discreet and have grudgingly pushed the matter to the back of his mind to discuss with Baekhyun later when he noticed that nothing good was going to come out of it. By the end of the dinner, Jongdae has ended his small argument with Chanyeol and have proceeded to tell them that since they have failed to buy clothes the other day in Voxdes they ought to do now because all jokes aside they didn’t have a lot of spare clothing on the ship.

Apparently, Jongin was going to drop by Balim (a small coastal town) tomorrow to meet some Jiyoung guy to hand him the letter that had previously caused them so much trouble and the quartermaster thought that it was best to send Sehun and Baekhyun with him or at least ask him to bring them some clothes. Sehun, honestly, didn’t think it was a nice idea. He didn’t want to be alone with the captain, even though his best friend was there, but Jongdae also looked like he wasn’t going to take a ‘no’ for an answer so after some reluctance both of them had negotiated it to be the latter option since their visit to land could still lead to an ambush like last time. Sehun did not want another experience of that.

Jongdae had also requested one of them to inform Jongin (who was at the helm, steering) about it on their way back to the cabin since the quartermaster himself was busy discussing some final details of the plan with Minseok and wouldn’t be able to see his youngest brother before his shift ends. Sehun, of course, had right away thrown the responsibility at his best friend, who after making some very unnecessary comments had agreed, but when they had actually gotten up to leave the mess hall Baekhyun had volunteered to wash dishes with Kyungsoo at the very last moment and had very shrewdly (Sehun wanted to punch that smirk off his face) asked him to inform Jongin because he was _busy_.

_Busy my ass._

He really didn’t know what was up with Baekhyun. Why was he so convinced that there was some sort of spark between him and Jongin? Jongin was a freaking Pirate captain for lord’s sake! His best friend has gone completely crazy. There was no way Sehun was attracted to the captain. Yeah, Jongin wasn’t as bad as he thought the other male was in the beginning, but he was still very annoying and conceited; there was no changing that.

 _Baekhyun isn’t wrong when he says that he makes you flustered…_

Even Sehun’s own brain was against him.

“He does not fluster me.” The tall male grumbled under his breath to no one in particular and hesitantly (very quietly too) climbed up the stairs to the helm where the captain was supposed to be. He honestly, didn’t understand himself too. He just has to go up to the captain and convey Jongdae’s message. There was nothing more to it. There was no place for any misunderstanding. It wasn’t like he was going to see Jongin on his own then what the hell was he feeling so nervous over? There was no reason to, especially if he stayed loyal to his claim that the captain had no effect on him.

_Just go up and tell him what Jongdae said._

_It is easy enough._

_No need to sweat over it, Oh Sehun._

_Get your act together!_

He psyched himself mentally and burst out, quite embarrassingly, as soon as he climbed up the last stair.

“Jongdae asked me to tell you- Oh my God!” Sehun broke off with a gasp and took a step back in shock when Jongin (looking equally shocked) turned around to face him. Sadly, he was already standing precariously on the edge of the first stair and conveniently lost his balance – for the second time in two weeks – to tumble down. Sehun closed his eyes with a whimper (no doubt this was going to be extremely painful) before his fall was broken by a strong arm that wrapped around his waist out of nowhere and pulled him straight back up on his feet. Jongin’s fresh, distinct scent fiercely assaulted his sense of smell as soon as he was upright.

“Are you alright?” Letting out a shaky breath, Sehun forced open his closed eyes and looked up at the captain with something akin to awe and fear on his face. Jongin’s eyes were glowing and no, he didn’t mean it in a romantic sense. They were _literally_ glowing a shade which was a mix of blue, green and grey. It was almost as if they were representing an image of the wild, passionate Sea.

“Y-Your eyes…” The taller male stuttered out in a bewildered manner and took in another shaky breath when he noticed that the figurehead at the front of the ship was also casting off the similar colors onto the Sea – it was glowing too.

_Anari._

“All fine, I see.” The tanned male concluded in a blasé manner – his glowing eyes slowly dimming into their usual warm shade of brown – before he pulled away his arm and took a step back to create some distance between them. If Sehun would have been in his right state of mind, he would have felt mortified over just how close they were a moment ago, but at the moment he was way too busy being confounded to feel any other sort of emotion.

“You should be careful on the stairs,” Jongin advised off-handedly before he turned around towards the wheel of the ship as if his eyes glowing was the most normal thing in the world; maybe it was (at least for the tanned male), but to Sehun it was something out of the world, something that made no sense, and something that can never be real.

“You can’t just-” The taller male started again, this time with a lot more heat, and attempted to take a step closer to the captain though he yet again ended up scooching back with a startled, choked noise when a huge bird – glowing a fantastic shade of Sea-Green – suddenly flew down from somewhere to hover by Jongin’s side like it was trying to protect the other male. Numerous, sparkling and glittering droplets of water were dripping down its body but none of them fell to the floor of the deck. They didn’t even fly off the bird’s body when it calmly flapped its majestic wings; almost as if they were adhered to the feathery body. The most fascinating thing was the fact that the bird itself didn’t appear wet at all. 

“You came seeking me on your own. What do I owe the pleasure to?” Jongin inquired after a long moment of daunted silence stretched from Sehun’s side.

“Your eyes!” The taller male asserted incredulously, not ready to allow the other male to talk his way out of the situation. He could very much excuse the bird because…well, if Dragons can exist than an exotic, Sea-Bird can exist as well, but glowing human eyes can absolutely not.

“I owe that pleasure to my eyes?” Sehun scowled as soon as he heard that. He can’t believe Jongin was still trying to play it off as a joke.

“You know what I am talking about?”

“Do I?” The captain challenged which only caused the taller male to bristle further.

“Your eyes were glowing! I saw it with my _own_. You can’t play off that bullshit. Are you still going to lie to us about who you are and about Anari? Are you still going to deny-”

“I deny nothing.” Jongin interrupted Sehun as calmly as one person could before finally turning to face him again.

“And I have never lied to you about who I am. I also never lied to you about Anari. I never told you she wasn’t real, in fact, I’m pretty sure Jongdae and Yixing have told you about her being real, but you guys didn’t believe them. If you look back, everything was right in front of your eyes. The ship, our dynamics and how we get everything done. Everything was obvious. We hid nothing.”

“How can we believe such a stupid myth?” Sehun reasoned with a frown, not ready to give up his ground.

“Whether you can, believe it or not, is not my concern.” The captain waved him off with a flick of his wrist.

“Besides, not everything you read in the books is real. I don’t know which version you have read, but what I am sure of is the fact that it is only half-correct.”

“So…you guys are from her blood-line? You have all those supernatural powers or whatever you call them?” Sehun inquired to confirm, appearing a bit lost, because he could still not wrap his mind around such an impossible reality though he realized with a jolt that he wasn’t as surprised and shaken as he ought to be.

He wasn’t as scared of Jongin and his crew as he thought he should be. He should be horrified by the other male. He should run away and put as much distance between them as he could. He should find Baekhyun as fast as he can and device a way to get off this ship. He should find the authorities and inform them of everything. It was the right thing to do. Sehun knew that, but still, no such impulse rose inside him; no such _fear_ took master of him or his thoughts. There was a weird sort of acceptance from his inner-self as if it has already picked up on just what was amiss all this time as if it has already justified everything…to the point he couldn’t even think of ratting out the Pirates to the authorities without wincing.

It was only then did he began to realize that not everything needs to be seen through the lens of his books or logic. Some things were extraordinary. They were special and out of the world – somethings that science and logic can’t explain. Somethings like Anari, Jongin’s glowing eyes and Sehun’s own unreasonable dread over what would happen if he ever revealed the Pirates’ secret to anyone.

When did he start caring about them? When did he become so loyal to them? He wasn’t even-

“You look like you need to sit down.” The captain’s sudden claim pulled him out of his thoughts.

“Come on, sit. The floor is clean.” Wordlessly, Sehun did as he was told and sat down with his back against the railing before tilting his head up to look at Jongin whose eyes for once looked warm instead of appearing angry, irritated or just downright indifferent. It was a nice and unexpected change; so unexpected that Sehun ended up blinking dumbly at him.

“Here you go,” Jongin, once again, broke him out his trance and handed him a full glass of water that was previously placed on a small ledge right beside the wheel. Normally, Sehun would have denied it – the other male must have brought it up for himself – but feeling uncharacteristically mystified, he took the glass without any objections and slowly brought it up to his lips; belatedly realizing that it was very possible that the captain has already drunk from it.

“You didn’t-”

“I didn’t drink from it.” The tanned male assured with an amused tilt to his lips and crossed his arms over his chest while looking down at Sehun who once again, without any proper reason, started to heat up under the captain’s gaze.

“Don’t you have a ship to steer or something?” He demanded weakly after a few seconds of silence because Jongin was still staring at him and that was kind of making him nervous.

“Yeah, I do.” The captain concurred and casually reached out to take back the glass when he saw that it was empty.

“Pay attention to it then.” Sehun asserted with a sniff and held out the glass for the other male.

“I don’t really want to drown in the Sea at this time of the night just because you were not paying attention.” Jongin snorted as soon as he was done speaking.

“That is an improvement.” The tanned male mocked before continuing.

“I remember you telling me that you’d prefer being in the Sea rather than sailing on my ship.”

“I changed my mind.” Sehun replied with the shrug of his shoulders.

“You are not as bad as I thought you were.”

“I am not bad at all.” Jongin contradicted which prompted Sehun to only shake his head in denial right away.

“Now you are just reaching.” The captain scoffed at that, though he made no other comment and actually turned around to pay attention to the wheel. They lapsed into silence after that which to Sehun’s surprise wasn’t awkward at all, contrary to that he felt quite at peace while comfortably sitting down on the helm and gazing down at the waves that gently lapped against the hull of the ship. The taller male was startled out of his peaceful revere when the bird (he had totally forgotten about it) came down to settle right in front of him with a curious glint in its beady eyes.

“This is Vepo. She is a water Phoenix.” Jongin _finally_ introduced and glanced over his shoulder to look at Sehun when he extended his hand cautiously to gently rub the bird’s neck.

“It’s a ‘her’?”

“Hmm…” The captain affirmed with a hum.

“She is pretty, right?”

“Yeah. She is really fascinating to look at.” Sehun agreed with a small smile and retracted his hand a little when Vepo gave her body a jerk while wildly flapping her wings.

“Where did you find her?”

“Anari gifted Vepo to me as a pet when I was still a kid,” Jongin revealed before reaching out to pet Vepo’s head who settled down at once.

“She is pretty helpful.”

“Do your brothers have pets too?” Sehun inquired curiously and lifted his head up.

“They don’t.” The other male cleared though he took his claim back a second later while looking a bit contemplative.

“Well, in a sense, Vepo isn’t exactly mine. All of the crew loves her and she loves Kyungsoo more than she loves me because he gives her food so they technically do have a pet too.”

“Got that.” Sehun acknowledged with a snort before continuing.

“I mean, I don’t blame her. The food Kyungsoo cook is some of the nicest I have ever eaten.”

“You should tell him that. Compliments always make Kyungsoo happy, especially if it’s about his cooking.” Jongin suggested and placed one of his hands back on the wheel before eventually facing the front.

“I will remember to do that later,” Sehun promised and scooted back to lean against the railing again when Vepo – most probably not finding Sehun interesting anymore – flew up to settle against the ledge it was previously sitting on. She tilted her head towards the captain for a second (he was sure she was demanding some head pats or whatever it was that she liked), but turned away when she got no attention from him. There was a lull after that which Sehun spent mostly observing Vepo and then contemplating whether he was supposed to leave or not because it didn’t look like Jongin was in the mood to have any kind of conversation with him anymore.

“I will-”

“I thought-”

Sehun and Jongin started at the same time though it was the captain who ended up continuing when Sehun gestured for him to continue with his hand.

“I thought you’d have a lot of questions for me.”

“I do.”

“Then why aren’t you asking?”

“Because I thought you wouldn’t answer them,” Sehun replied honestly which caused Jongin to frown.

“Why wouldn’t I?”

“Why would you?” The taller male threw back right away.

“It is not like you are obliged.”

“I am not,” The captain agreed with a nod before continuing.

“But I will still answer. Ask away.”

“Are not you worried that I will tell the authorities about you guys once you drop us back?” Sehun inquired with a creased forehead, not really understanding why the other male was so keen on giving him answers – well, keen isn’t exactly the right word, but still.

“Why should I worry about that when Jongdae can easily wipe away your memories?” Jongin inquired with the shrug of his shoulders which conveniently made Sehun choke.

“He can do that?” Poor Vepo lost her grip on the ledge and unattractively stumbled down in shock just from how loud he was.

“Not really,” The captain responded with a cackle – fuck there was whole-ass dimple there – and bent down to help his pet bird up.

“I just wanted to see your reaction.” Sehun scowled, all thoughts of dimple forgotten, as soon as he heard that.

_Jerk._

“You are not funny.” He grumbled under his breath.

“I think I am pretty funny.” Jongin contradicted with a roughish grin.

“The expression on your face was priceless.” Sehun’s face burned in embarrassment, though he refused to acknowledge it.

“What kind of powers do you guys _actually_ have?”

“Well, Jongdae’s real power is manipulation. He can manipulate your vision and make you see things that are not really there. Pretty helpful if you ask me- why are you scowling at me like that now?” The captain broke off his explanation with a questioning raise of his brow.

“There was no window that day, right?” Sehun narrowed his eyes at the other male who merely waved his hand to blow off the matter.

“You are still stuck over that?”

“That made me look like an idiot!” The taller male heatedly argued.

“You are way too sensitive, Princess,” Jongin responded with the roll of his eyes. Sehun opened his mouth to protest (he loathed that nickname), but the other male beat him to it.

“Do you want to know the rest now or do you want to continue complaining?”

…………

Junmyeon’s power was telekinesis, Yixing’s power was healing Chanyeol controlled the element of fire and Minseok had the power of transmutation which according to Jongin meant that he could easily convert one matter into another and alter their shapes simultaneously. It was apparently also where all their money came from because being able to convert matters also included turning random pieces of rock (or any other matter) into gold. That was kind of cool especially when the captain explained to him just how useful Minseok’s power was when they are in a fight.

Jongin’s power, on the other hand, was honestly an enigma and Sehun still wasn’t sure whether he understood it well or not.

  
_“What about you? What is your power?”_

_“I am the Sea.”_

_“You…are the Sea?” Sehun had repeated with a confused frown, definitely not expecting or understanding that answer._

_“In Anari’s words, yes.” Jongin had confirmed before walking towards the railing and sitting beside him._

_“But I think it is more like I am connected to the Sea in a very special way. I can control it. I can control the life within it...somewhat. I can see inside it as clearly as you can see me. It talks to me. I can feel it. I know it as well as I know myself. It’s almost like a second soul to me.”_

  
When Sehun had asked him about where they got all the freshwater from if no one had the _power_ of water, Jongin had just chuckled soundlessly and stretched his hand out. He had looked at it in confusion for about a second – the figurehead at the front was glowing again – before the other male had opened his palm and conjured a small bubble of water out of the empty air. Sehun still wasn’t proud of the way his jaw had dropped open in awe, especially when the captain had laughed at him in amusement while claiming that Sehun’s reaction to his power was one of the most comic ones they had gotten thus far – apparently the owner of having the funniest reaction previously belonged to Kyungsoo only who had smacked Chanyeol on the head with a pot when he has magically conjured up fire in front of him.

Anyway, they had just finished discussing Jongin’s power and opened up another topic about how the ship was connected to Anari when Baekhyun had unceremoniously interrupted them. His best friend had come up to ask the captain where Sehun was but had stopped in the middle of his query when he had seen them sitting on the floor side by side.

  
_“This is…interesting.” Baekhyun had broken off to clear his throat before continuing his sentence with a crooked smile which caused alarm bells to ring inside Sehun’s head. His best friend was up to no good._

_“Sehun, I never knew you have warmed up to the captain.”_

_“I haven’t. We were just having a conversation.” Sehun just wanted his best friend to shut up for once. It was not the time for the shorter male to tease him about some non-existent spark between him and Jongin. There was no spark. Baekhyun was just fucking delusional and he was going to embarrass Sehun in front of Jongin out of all people because of that._

_“You look pretty comfortable next to the captain though – at least from here.” Baekhyun pointed out with a scheming grin and raised his arms up in mock surrender when Sehun attempted to kick his shin._

_“I suppose you were here to ask me about your friend.” Jongin finally interrupted before getting up from the floor and dusting his pants._

_“Yeah, I didn’t expect him to be here willingly out of all the places. He kind of vowed to me a few days back that he would hate you forever because you are intolerable and there is no way in hell he would ever come to like you.” Sehun wanted to shove Baekhyun right into the Sea, especially when the captain snorted and turned around to look at him with his lips stretched in a smirk._

_“You always have such kind thoughts about me. I am flattered.”_

_“Have you seen how annoying you are? You get on my nerves all the time.” Sehun defended himself with a scowl._

_“Oh- no! What will I ever do to amend that?” The taller male absolutely hated Jongin’s sarcastic replies and that fact wasn’t about to change anytime in the near future._

_“Anyway, you guys should head down to your cabins. It is cold out here and even though I don’t particularly care about it, still you shouldn’t get sick, for Yixing’s sake.”_

_“Why Yixing?” Baekhyun had inquired with a confused frown._

_“He gets all stressed when someone is sick abroad the ship,” Jongin replied with the shrug of his shoulders before waving them off._

_“Go now.”_

_“Can I tell Baekhyun about your pow-”_

_“Do whatever you want.”_

And that had been the end of the first civil conversation between Sehun and the captain which the taller male was a little sad over because he still has a lot of questions that he wanted to ask. He specifically wanted to know what the hell was out there that convinced his father to take on such strong enemies and of course, he also wanted to know about the _true_ legend of Anari because the one he has read was obviously a scam. But now his chance was lost because lord knows when would be the next time Jongin would be in one of the _‘good moods’_ to hand out free classified information.

Talking about information, Sehun has told Baekhyun everything that he had gotten to know from Jongin because the captain had told him to do whatever the hell he wants. His best friend at first thought that he was just joking, but when the taller male had continued to look at him with a straight, serious face he finally realized that he was not being joked with. Then Baekhyun had proceeded to sputter and opened his mouth to speak but only ended up choking so he closed it again. It was rather funny to see and made Sehun wonder whether Jongin would qualify his best friend’s reaction as one of the funniest ones – he has to ask him in the morning the next day, speaking of which reminded him that he never actually conveyed Jongdae’s message to the captain.

Oh, well, someone else would tell him.

* * *

“Oh- just the person I was looking for.” Sehun stopped walking as soon as he heard that and whirled around in his place to face the person who has spoken.

“You were looking for me?” He inquired in an uncertain manner and took a step closer to the captain when the other male nodded his head.

“Yeah.” Jongin verbally confirmed before continuing.

“Why are you going up anyway?”

“Minseok asked me to bring his jacket before going to the helm,” Sehun responded while holding up the said jacket.

“I see.” The captain acknowledged with a nod of his head.

“Leave it on the railing there and come with me.”

“But Minseok asked me to-” Sehun started with a frown, but the tanned male cut him off.

“Minseok!”

“What?” The elder male shouted back before appearing by the railing of the helm.

“Do you mind if Sehun brings you the jacket after I am done talking with him?” Jongin questioned his elder brother with a raised brow.

“Uh…no?” Minseok replied with a confused expression before he slowly descended the stairs.

“I mean, he can just hand it over to me here.” He continued and extended his hand towards Sehun, who instantly gave him the jacket.

“Great.” The captain commented dryly before walking in the direction of his room and holding open the door.

“Now if you would please.” He requested while looking straight at Sehun.

“You want me to follow you to your cabin?” The taller male questioned, looking a bit confounded. He had never really expected to enter the captain’s cabin during his short stay on the ship.

“Yes. Is there something wrong with it?” Jongin ticked a brow at him.

“Well…no, but-” Sehun was about to point out that he didn’t really want to invade his personal space, but the other male cut him off, yet again.

“Then come inside.” There was no room for arguing after that because Jongin entered his room right away without giving Sehun any chance to protest again. The taller male walked closer to the door, hesitated by the entrance, but eventually stepped inside the cabin.

“Shut the door.” The captain instructed without sparing him a single glance because apparently he was busy sorting through a cloth bag placed on his bed. Sehun did as he was told after a moment of silent contemplation before slowly taking in the sight of the cabin. There wasn’t anything special or significantly different about it. The design was quite similar to the other cabins he has seen on the ship and it held the same furniture as well though Jongin’s desk had a glass slab with a map – even more intricate than the one they had seen in Jongdae’s room – pressed under it. The only difference that Sehun could point out was the fact that other cabins had two single beds each whereas Jongin’s cabin had one queen-sized bed.

“Here you go.” Sehun snapped his head towards the captain when the cloth bag was thrust in his direction.

“What is this?” He asked before hesitantly taking the bag and peeking inside it.

“Clothes. Jongdae asked me to buy some for you and Baekhyun. They may be a bit bigger because I didn’t know the exact size and you guys were not there, but they should work because you are about Chanyeol’s size and Baekhyun is about Jongdae’s.” Jongin explained before turning back around to fiddle with another bag.

“These are too many.” Sehun pointed out with a frown after he had flitted through the articles in the bag.

“Figured you guys can make use of them once we drop you off somewhere,” Jongin replied with the shrug of his shoulders before pointing towards one of the wooden chairs placed by his desk.

“Sit. I need to tell you something.”

“Okay…” The taller male concurred and slowly made his way towards the desk to settle down on the free chair. The other one was covered with a rumpled white shirt and a book with a thick black cover. Sehun was sure he had read this one before.

“You were reading about Kylisia?”

“Do you know him?” The captain inquired breezily before finally abandoning whatever he was doing and walking towards the desk too.

“I have read a lot about him.” Sehun shared before reaching out to pick up the book.

“I have read this book too.”

“Really?” Jongin looked slightly impressed and intrigued as he casually walked around to occupy the other seat.

“What do you know about him then?” He plowed on before picking up the shirt, chucking it towards the bed and settling down.

“Um, his crew was called ‘The Bloody Rovers.’ Nobody knows which peninsula he actually belonged to, but people speculate that he was from Wetia – it is a pretty big town along the Western coasts – but that’s just a rumor and nothing is confirmed. He was some sort of a Pirate legend and was known to be vicious, like really vicious.” Sehun related with a grimace and placed down the book in his hand.

“What makes him vicious?” The other male implored and leaned back in his chair.

“What do you mean?” Sehun demanded with a creased forehead.

“He was a very cruel person. He killed people for fun. He was known to plunder towns, one after another. His crew was known for opening fire on unsuspecting masses. He tortured people by castrating them and left absolutely no survivors.”

“No survivors,” Jongin reiterated with a thoughtful expression before cocking his head to the side and fixing his gleaming eyes on Sehun’s face.

“I wonder where the stories came from.”

“Are you making fun of me?” The taller male accused with downturned lips.

“No,” The captain refuted right away.

“I’m making fun of the people who wrote these books about my great grandfather.”

“Y-Your great grandfather? You are related to him?” Sehun questioned incredulously.

“I think I said just that.” Jongin pointed out with an amused smile.

“Just tell me about him.” The taller male grumbled with a scowl and crossed his arms over his chest.

“Our generations have roamed the Sea only for one reason, Sehun and that is Anari. We sail to protect her, everything else is a lie. Plus, his crew had no tacky name.” The captain added in the end with a grimace.

“How did they even make up that stupid name and mass accepted it?” Sehun had no answer to that so he just shrugged his shoulders.

“Why were you reading this book if you knew that it is a lie?” He inquired instead and curiously thumbed the binding of the book.

“No special reason. I just like to have a good laugh from time to time.” The tanned male replied nonchalantly before sitting up straight in his place – all of a sudden looking a lot more attentive than he did before.

“I called you here to tell you something.” He recalled, more to himself than Sehun, before lacing the fingers of his hands.

“Yeah, I have been waiting.”

“You kind of side-tracked me.” Jongin defended himself before looking at him straight in the eye.

“So, you know I went to send the letter today with Yixing, right?”

“Jongdae told us last night,” Sehun confirmed and pressed his lips in a thin line, wondering whether he should ask the question that was on his mind or not. It would side-track the other male again, but he kind of wanted to know.

“What is in that letter anyway?” The captain blinked his eyes at that as if he wasn’t ready for that query out of all and needed a moment to process it.

“That letter has our future plans – you know where we are planning to go after we are done with your father and what we are going to do – and it also has the address of the general location of our home. Sooyoung, she is a crewmate too before you ask, is there alone. She wouldn’t be able to fight if your father were to ambush that place.” Jongin explained before pulling out three letters from a drawer.

“She wrote these to keep us updated.”

“Why not bring her along too?” Sehun asked with knitted brows.

“We need someone to keep an eye on the things while we are busy here.”

“What do you need to keep an eye on?”

“Your father.”

“My father?” Sehun repeated in a bewildered manner.

“Aren’t _you_ doing that right now?”

“Your father…has information.” The captain provided very vaguely.

“Right.” The taller male deadpanned.

“That explains nothing.”

“Sehun, your father and the people working with him have information that no one is supposed to have except for us. He knows a lot of secrets, but we don’t know where he is getting them from because it is impossible to attain that information. Only the crew knows about it other than Anari and me, but I know none of them is betraying me which means that there is another source; someone we are missing.” Sehun kept mum because he honestly had no input to give.

“Your father also has a lot of men under him and they have been causing some major trouble lately.” Jongin continued before shaking his head.

“I met one of the guys who has been spying on your father in Helmi today and he told me something about your mother. I don’t know how you will react to this but-”

“Has she left my father?” Sehun interrupted the other male with a grim smile.

“Yes.” The captain confirmed with a nod.

“I expected that to happen. My father is a lunatic. She was only with him because of me.” Sehun revealed wearily before heaving a sigh and straightening up.

“Was that all?”

“She is with her brother at the moment. I asked my man to keep updated with her whereabouts.” Jongin added before tearing open one of the letters.

“Also, I have another bad news for you.”

“The first one wasn’t even bad news.” Sehun contradicted with a snort which impelled the other male to scan his face.

“I am glad to know that.” The captain expressed after a small moment of silence.

“So what’s the bad news?”

“Your father has somehow manipulated the legal body into thinking that you weren’t kidnapped and that you have gone with us willingly to help Baekhyun run away which sort of makes you a traitor and a criminal.” Jongin disclosed while rubbing the back of his neck.

“Normally, legal procedures do not take place in such ways, but your father has a lot of authority which means that you can’t go back to Helmi – Jinaeri even – because his pawns are everywhere and I doubt they will be nice to you or your friend. I’m sorry-”

“It is okay.” Sehun cut in instantly.

“It is?” The tanned male repeated with a tick of his brow.

“I wasn’t planning on going back to Helmi anyway. Baekhyun is with me and my mom is gone. There is nothing for me on that island anymore.” Sehun explained before slightly tilting his head with a wince.

“I never fancied being labeled as a criminal though.”

“I am terribly sorry about that.” The captain didn’t sound terribly sorry when he opened the folded letter to most probably read it. Sehun sat there, beside him, like a fool for a minute or so in silence before finally clearing his throat.

“Should I go now?”

“You can stay if you want,” Jongin replied with a slightly dimpled smile before looking up at him.

“…though I don’t see why you would want to do that. There is nothing interesting in my room. It’s just like the cabin we have given you.”

“Your bed is bigger.” The words were out of his mouth before Sehun could even think of swallowing them. The tanned male appeared slightly taken aback by his observation because he blankly blinked his eyes, spared the mentioned bed a quick glance before turning back to face Sehun with amusement twinkling in his eyes.

“Well…” The captain started with a lopsided smirk.

“I don’t see why you shouldn’t get to enjoy the bigger bed. Feel free to indulge yourself. I don’t have any objections.” Sehun opened his mouth to say _something_ to save his face and clear any potential misunderstanding that his words might have implied, but Jongin beat him to it.

“However, I am sure the whole crew will have a lot to say about you spending your time in my bed because you know...”

“I was just pointing out.” Sehun finally got out with his face burning in mortification.

“I like my bed very well. You can keep yours to yourself.”

“Okay then. You can leave if you want.” Jongin concluded with a barely suppressed laugh and turned back towards the letter he was reading previously.

“I am going.” The taller male mumbled with a sniff before standing up from his seat with the cloth bag in his hand and turned around to leave. Sehun really can’t believe he said that out loud. It was so freaking embarrassing and _lord_ if somehow Baekhyun or Jongdae got to know about it, they were going to drag him through hell and back.

_It was just a stupid observation_

He was just about ready to open the door of the cabin to exit – so that he could wallow over his stupidity in his own cabin – when the captain called out to gain his attention once more.

_What now?_

Sehun glowered mentally and faced Jongin again with a blank stare though it faltered all too soon when he noticed just how ethereal the other male looked under the golden glow of the lamp that was placed on the desk next to the letters.

“I have an offer to make.” The taller male snapped out of his trance when he heard that and discreetly shook his head to clear his mind.

_Fuck._

“Y-You what?”

“I have an offer to make,” Jongin repeated with pursed lips and placed down the letter in favor of facing him completely.

“Well, Yixing was the one who suggested it and Kyungsoo has talked about it to me pretty seriously before; the whole crew, in general, have talked to me about it at one point or another but I am the captain so…”

“What is it?” Sehun urged, sounding slightly confused. Why was the other male beating about the bush like that?

“Since you and Baekhyun have nowhere to go and you have no money on you too, the others were suggesting that maybe you guys can join our crew,” The captain started before combing back the loose strands of hairs that were teasing his eyes.

“Don’t take it the wrong way, but Lord Oh, no matter what his reasons were, have kept you pretty sheltered all your life and some of the crew members are worried that you guys will get in serious trouble. Life out there will be difficult since one of you is a runaway and the other one is labeled as a criminal – both of which is our fault in some sense so it is my responsibility as a captain to make sure that you and Baekhyun at least have some experience before we let you go out on your own if you want to leave.”

“You want us to join the crew?” Somehow it was the only thing that stuck with the taller male.

“Yes.”

“ _Your_ crew?” Jongin ticked a brow at that.

“How many pirate crews do you know other than ours?”

“But that makes no sense.” Sehun pointed out with a frown.

“That makes perfect sense, especially when both of you can’t even properly use a blade.” The tanned male contradicted before sighing.

“Look, no one is going to force you. Take your time. Think about it with a calm and cool mind. Discuss it with Baekhyun and then tell us. You should at least learn how to fight properly if you decide not to join.” What Jongin said made perfect sense. Everything he pointed out was true and honestly, Sehun wasn’t even against the idea (which surprised him the most), contrary to that he was quite happy and touched that the crew cared about them enough to be worried. They really didn’t need to. They can just drop him and Baekhyun off and then be done with it, but they didn’t and _that_ meant a lot. Besides, Sehun has come to really enjoy the company of these Pirates. They were funny and sincere and even though the captain was a snarky asshole, still, he made his heart race in a way he didn’t quite want to address at the moment. The thought of _leaving_ the ship was actually quite sad, but Sehun also knew that he and Baekhyun had nothing to offer back to these people. They just can’t stay on the ship as freeloaders if they decide not to leave, willingly.

“What will you guys get out of it? I and Baekhyun have nothing to offer you back if we join the crew.”

“Who said you have nothing to offer? Both of you have already helped us quite a lot.” Jongin shot back with a creased forehead.

“Baekhyun is pretty intelligent and has a unique way of going about things. He has helped us greatly in fleshing out the plan for the fight and is very good at scheming. You, on the other hand, have read a lot-”

“Yeah, and you make fun of me for that.” Sehun interrupted with narrowed eyes.

“I admire you for that.” The captain corrected right away which conveniently made Sehun’s heart skip a beat. He wasn’t expecting that response and didn’t understand it too. How can the other male say something like that so easily without stuttering or embarrassing himself, especially to a person who had been nothing but hostile to him – to a person like Sehun, himself.

“You know a lot.” Jongin continued as if he could see the confusion displayed on his face.

“You are a sharp observer which is very important for someone who is in our situation. That day…you really saved us from huge trouble.” The taller male has to bite down on his bottom lip to stop the dopey smile that was threatening to grace his lips. It was irrational, really. He knew that. There was no need for him to feel so proud or accomplished of himself (most importantly not at that specific moment), but he kind of understood the reason behind his sudden feeling of triumph too. He had always been undermined, be it strangers or his family which was why it was so nice to have someone acknowledge him for once. It was a warm, pleasant feeling and Sehun was a bit boggled by the fact that the tanned male was the source of it.

“Umm…I-I will talk to Baekhyun.” Can he sound anymore awkward than that?

“Does that mean you are agreeing to stay?” Jongin inquired with a subtle smile lining his lips and _fuck_ that dimple was there again.

“Depends,” Sehun choked out (hopefully it wasn’t _that_ noticeable) before clearing his throat.

“Do I have to call you captain too?” The captain laughed out loud at that almost immediately and stood up from the seat with a shake of his head while discarding the letter in his hand on the desk.

“I remember telling you to call me by my name.”

“You were not sincere about it.”

“Oh, but I was very sincere.” Jongin was standing right in front of him by that point.

“It didn’t sound like it.” Sehun pointed out, his voice a pitch lower than it usually is. He hated this. He hated this effect that the other male has on him.

“Maybe,” The captain concurred with the shrug of his shoulders before tilting his face closer to Sehun’s just a fraction.

“Or maybe you just heard it wrong.”

“I am sure I didn’t.” For some reason, Jongin’s eyes slowly and surely flitted over his features at that (as if he was trying to find something) without an ounce of subtlety or shame.

Sehun felt his face heating up.

“Very well,” The tanned male responded after a long minute of intense scrutiny and averted his gaze before taking a step away. There was something indecipherable about the expression in his eyes all of a sudden, even though his face remained completely impassive, otherwise.

“I think you have spent enough time here. You should go back to your cabin now.” The statement was articulated with such obvious _irritation_ that it surprised (even offended) Sehun for a second. However, it didn’t take him long to realize that the captain wasn’t irritated with him. Jongin was irritated with himself. For what reason? Well, that remained a mystery because the taller male only ended up gawkily nodding his head in agreement and walked out of the cabin as fast as he could.

* * *

  
Azure.

It was a small crystal, about the size of his hand, which the pirate crew was supposed to protect for Anari. Sehun thought that it was slightly stupid – the pains they have to take to secure just a stupid crystal – until he got to know just how important it was. As he had predicted, he got no further answers or explanation from Jongin (he didn’t have the courage to approach him too after their last awkward encounter), but Jongdae was kind enough to fill them in after Baekhyun had told the whole crew with an excited smile that they would be staying.

It was no surprise that the version of the story they have read about the goddess was only half true like the captain has told him back on the helm that day. The original story was a lot similar to the one they have read in the beginning part, but there were a lot of crucial things that were different. First, the god of the sea wasn’t the ultimate power like he was depicted in the book. Instead, there was a ‘Creator’ who rules over all the realms. Apparently, the god of the sea was punished by the ultimate power for practicing cruelty towards the species of the sea that he was given the command over.

The rest of the story did go the same as the one that they have read though Jongdae hadn’t given them a lot of details about how Anari fell in love with their ancestor. He skirted around it – more because it was long and unnecessary than because he wanted to hide it – and have proceeded to tell them more important things like how the Azure was connected to the whole thing.

Anari was a human by birth, but after she was divested with the title and powers of the goddess her existential essence has changed. Moreover, she needed to leave the sea and be on the land with the man she wanted to marry. The Creator wasn’t cruel, but he wasn’t quite that generous either. He had allowed her to be with the man she loves, but on a condition that made her vulnerable to anyone out there who knew her secret.

The Azure was that secret.

It detained the strongest portion of her existence and held her bound to the sea. It was a guarantee that she would come back to where she belonged once her husband dies. It was the time limit given to her. A limited amount of time, she was allowed to live like a normal person, before the need to physically touch the Azure once a month will start driving her crazy and it wouldn’t subside until or unless she does exactly that.

She had to go back to the sea at all costs.

According to Jongdae, she was also an immortal. She couldn’t die which meant that if she didn’t touch the Azure she would have to spend the rest of her immortal life being desperate and frenzied. It also meant that whoever managed to get the possession of Azure was very much in control of Anari and what she did.

Once she returned back to the sea, it didn’t take the goddess too long to realize that the Azure wasn’t safe there with her because she was unable to physically prevent someone from taking possession of it. It was seemingly one of the Creator’s conditions (Sehun was starting to hate the guy more and more) when she had asked to go to the land with the man she loved because he had wanted to deter her from the request. Sehun still didn’t get the logic behind it (he didn’t want to) and had voiced his thoughts out to Jongdae, but the pirate had said something about it being the sacrifice she had to make before closing down the topic completely in favor of going on with his explanation.

Moving on, Anari may not be the ultimate authority, but she was still the goddess of the sea and had remarkable powers. Deciding that Azure would be a lot safer on the land than Sea, she had blessed her off-springs with powers and have given them the vital duty to keep the crystal protected. Of course, not everyone from Kim lineage wanted to bind themselves with the unwanted task, but most of them did agree to help so that the balance of power can be maintained.

Yixing has also been kind enough to tell them that they have gained their powers at the age of ten, but that was just a fraction of what they were capable of. The full potential can only be reached after they bind themselves with Anari through a ceremony that was once again too long and unnecessary to be explained. Another thing that he has told them was the fact that Anari chooses the strongest of them, per each generation, to handover the Azure and along with it a part of her power.

In their case, it was Jongin.

Sehun couldn’t really help himself when he asked whether the captain’s affinity for silver has something to do with Anari as well and hadn’t been surprised at all when his deduction was confirmed along with the additional information that Jongin’s grey hair was not dyed. He was brunette by birth, but after he has been blessed by Anari’s sea spirit his hair has slowly and gradually changed into their present color.

Junmyeon has concluded the discussion by claiming that Lord Oh have somehow managed to attain classified information and was now stirring up great trouble for them. His father has apparently made attacks on various beings living in the sea for the past five to six months and has forced the pirates to leave their home to sail the sea and see what all the trouble was about.

“How did he even came across this secret?” Baekhyun inquired with a frown and looked down at the empty plate in front of him. They have just finished eating dinner which took a lot more time than usual given the fact that they were busy listening to the pirates speak.

“We have no idea. Only the crew is supposed to know about it. There is someone we are missing.” Jongdae replied with a frown of his own before shaking his head and aiming a suggestive sort of grin at Baekhyun who merely raised a brow.

“What?” His best friend demanded.

“Nothing. You have asked so many questions and I have diligently answered them. Now, it is only fair if you answer _my_ question.” Oh, boy. Sehun was sure that the quartermaster was about to do or ask something incredibly stupid.

“He is about to say something stupid.” Kyungsoo groaned from his place and slumped against Chanyeol who was apparently his husband of two years. Nothing has shocked Sehun more than that news. Sure, Kyungsoo and Chanyeol shared one room and in Baekhyun’s words they were quite fond of each other, but the taller male had thought that they were just roommates like he and Baekhyun were or boyfriends at best. Plus, they had twin beds in their cabin. How could he have ever guessed?

“Sure, ask whatever you want.” Baekhyun encouraged Jongdae with the shrug of his shoulders which only caused the pirate’s grin to grow in size.

“Don’t blame me for not warning you.” Kyungsoo grouched just in time the quartermaster spoke up again.

“Will you be my boyfriend?” Awkward, daunting silence stretched around them as soon as those words left Jongdae’s lips.

“What?” Baekhyun demanded dumbly with bulging eyes as if he can’t trust his own ears. Sehun wouldn’t blame him for that. What the hell was this stupid pirate thinking? This is not how you ask people to be your boyfriend in the middle of a random conversation in front of so many people. The _whole_ crew was gathered in the mess hall except for Jongin. Actually, Sehun hasn’t seen the captain for the past two days – not that he was counting or anything – but that was something he can think about later.

“It is easy enough,” Jongdae responded with a serene smile, looking as proud as one person could after doing something dumb.

“I think we have this amazing chemistry and you are kind of hot, so why not give us a chance.”

“Oh my God!” Jisoo cringed in her seat and threw a glare towards the quartermaster.

“Someone set him on fire.”

“That is not nice.” Jongdae protested right away.

“I second that. Chanyeol do your job.” Joohyun supported her sister before turning towards Baekhyun.

“Reject him already. For my sake.” She deadpanned which finally seemed to have snapped his best friend out of his reverie.

“Why would I do anything for your sake?” The shorter male inquired with a grimace.

“Does that mean you agree?” Jongdae butted in before Joohyun can make any sort of a reply. Baekhyun’s face heated up just a bit.

“I mean, you are not wrong. I am kind of really hot.” Sehun wanted to smash his face on the table as soon as he heard his best friend saying that.

“I knew it. We will make a great couple.” The quartermaster expressed looking oddly proud of himself. 

“Ugh…I can’t take this.” Minseok mourned from his place.

“Now there is going to be another disgustingly intimate couple on the ship. Jongdae is fucking shameless.”

“Shut it, Minseok. We all know you are just sour because your pregnant wife is back at home.” Jongdae argued and got up from his seat to occupy the one next to Baekhyun who threw him a shy smile.

“Speaking of pregnancy,” Yixing suddenly jumped in with furrowed brows and turned to face Kyungsoo.

“How are you doing?” All heads in the room turned towards the cook of the ship, almost instantly, who was sheepishly smiling at his gaping husband.

“Oh, yeah, surprise?”

* * *

  
One thing that Sehun learned about the pirates while staying on the ship was the fact that they were all really bad at making big reveals. He knew that it was bad to generalize, but after seeing Jongdae’s horrendous proposal and Kyungsoo’s pregnancy announcement, he was sure that any other person would make the same conclusion as him.

Poor Chanyeol had looked so shocked and for a moment Sehun had been afraid that the tall pirate wasn’t even breathing though thankfully that hadn’t been the case. Nevertheless, it was still pretty much bad timing because people like Jongdae and Mark will never stop mimicking Chanyeol’s crying face much to the said male’s chagrin. Sehun was sure that they would embarrass the taller pirate in front of his kid in the future too. He can just see it happening.

  
“How much time do we have?” Sehun, who was leaning against one of the railings on the quarterdeck, turned around to face Kyungsoo when he heard the question.

“I don’t know. I think I heard Jongin say that he can feel the ships getting closer so there couldn’t be a lot of time left.” The captain still hadn’t talked to him (not that they used to do that a lot before anyway) though Sehun considered that it was an improvement when the tanned male has tipped his head in acknowledgment earlier as a greeting. In all honesty, he didn’t even know what was wrong with the other male. They have been just fine before the captain got all irritated on him.

_Was it something I did?_

“I can’t believe they are not letting me fight.” The shorter male grumbled while walking closer to him.

“Well, you are kind of pregnant,” Sehun responded while making a gesture towards his stomach.

“Congrats, by the way.”

“Thanks,” Kyungsoo responded in a blasé manner before letting out a sigh.

“I have never been excluded from a fight before. This feels so weird.”

“If it makes you feel any better, I am supposed to stay in the captain’s cabin with you too and I am not even pregnant.” Sehun tried to console which made the shorter male snort.

“You can’t fight, Sehun. There is a difference. Plus, the captain’s cabin is the safest place when going in a fight.”

“Yeah, but I can stay on the deck and watch-”

“That is too dangerous.” Kyungsoo cut him off with a shake of his head.

“Your father has already put charges against you for helping us. If someone witnesses you on the deck those allegations would be confirmed and then Helmi wouldn’t be the only place you can’t go to.”

“That is why I joined the crew.” Sehun joked with a grin.

“So it doesn’t matter if he gets witnesses or not.”

“There are going to be hostile people with swords on the deck in any case. It is safest if you stay inside. Captain’s orders.” Kyungsoo asserted with a frown and turned towards the door of the captain’s cabin.

“We should head inside.”

“Don’t you guys have powers? Just don’t let them come abroad the ship.” Sehun pointed out which caused the pirate to shake his head.

“We don’t know what to expect. Your father ought to know we have powers, but he doesn’t know what kind which is an advantage. Baekhyun was right when he said that Lord Oh is trying to see us fight so he can see what he is going up against. The captain asked everyone to use their powers as less and as discreetly as possible if it is absolutely necessary. The fight is mostly going to be physical.” From what Sehun has heard from Jongin’s previous conversation with Minseok there were two fleets headed their way.

“It would have been easier if the captain could just drown their ships, but Azure glows whenever Jongin uses his power and giving away the location of the crystal is the last thing we want. Technically, if we drown every single person on that ship then there would be no one to _tell_ , but Lord Oh…” Kyungsoo trailed off with another frown.

“He is smart enough to know that we will leave him no survivors which practically ends the purpose of this pursuit. He has some other cards up his sleeve. We need to be careful.”

“Jongdae can use his power without being detected,” Sehun observed which made the other male hum.

“He can. Jongin can too to some extent. Yixing’s power isn’t going to be of any help during the fight. Chanyeol’s power is way too obvious but I’m sure he can play around with temperature. Minseok’s and Junmyeon’s would be too apparent as well though they might be able to do something.” Kyungsoo mused before throwing open the door.

“Get inside. The captain’s stressed enough before a fight. I don’t want him breathing down our necks.”

…………

The deck was in chaos.

There were men everywhere. Literally, Sehun couldn’t even make out who was who. Their movements were a blur and the impact of the swords created a deafening sound which made it really hard to make out what was being said. The taller male wasn’t sure whether it was anything bad or not when he realized that he couldn’t spot a single crew member between the throngs of men. At least, he had earlier seen Baekhyun running to take cover below deck with Yixing and didn’t need to worry about the short male’s safety though that was just _one_ worry out of many.

The fight has started slow. His father’s men were being extremely careful, still, half of them have ended up in the ocean instead of their deck when they have attempted to swing ropes from their fleet to their ship all thanks to Jongdae’s manipulation. They still haven’t come up (good grace) which Sehun would assume was due to Jongin’s power. That little trick of the quartermaster, however, hasn’t gone on for long before the people on the fleet realized that something was wrong.

Things have been a blur from then on. There were canons being shot which have destroyed half of Lord Oh’s fleet on their left though thankfully Anari (their ship) has fared no damage. Sehun has a suspicion that it was Minseok’s or Junmyeon’s doings, but there was no way to confirm that. It could be the ship itself too. The taller male made a mental note to ask the pirates about that later when they have hopefully defeated the enemy.

“I can’t see any of the crew members, not even Chanyeol and he is ridiculously tall.” Kyungsoo carped while pushing his face further against the cabin window as if that would somehow allow him to see clearer.

“I think I spot Chanyeol.” Sehun, who was in a similar position as the shorter male, murmured distractedly from his place.

“Where?” Kyungsoo demanded and instantly came to stand next to him.

“There. I think he is next to that guy dressed in green.” If Chanyeol was using his power, it wasn’t apparent (at least not from their place) though he was putting up quite a great fight against the three men that were surrounding him.

“He is going to end up getting wounded,” Kyungsoo concluded while angrily stepping away from the window.

“This was not how things were supposed to go. What have they been planning all this time?” The shorter male continued while ruffling his hair in agitation.

“Kyungsoo, you need to calm down.” Sehun tried to pacify and pulled a chair closer to the pregnant male.

“I am sure the crew knows what they are doing.”

“I know! This fight would have ended minutes ago if Jongin wanted even without using his power. Those people are not even half as good at combat as we are which means the captain is stalling things, but I don’t get why. I wasn’t there when they finalized the plan.” The shorter male sighed before sitting down. Sehun thought that it was a development even when the other male still looked quite restless.

“Baekhyun said something about trying to find out what kind of help my father is getting or most importantly from _where_. Maybe they are trying to figure out how my father plans on getting all the information about this fight if there is no possibility of survivors.” The taller male provided with a helpless shrug and moved closer to the bed to sit down as well. Sadly, before he can actually do that Kyungsoo shot up in his place again and materialized a blade out of nowhere.

“I can’t just stay in here and wait for one of them to get injured. I am going out.”

“Oh, no, you are not!” Sehun immediately refuted and held onto his arm firmly.

“You are just going to make them worry if you go out now. Trust Jongin. He won’t compromise the crew’s safety.” He tried to knock some sense into the pirate’s head, but the shorter male just shook his head and shuck his hand off his arm.

“I trust Jongin enough, but sitting here makes me feel virtually useless.”

“Kyungsoo no-” The said male pushed past his figure and was out of the cabin door before Sehun can even finish reasoning with him.

“What is _wrong_ with all these Pirates?” He complained under his breath and followed the pregnant male out after a moment of silent deliberation. The plan was to catch Kyungsoo before he can go down the quarterdeck and drag him back in without being spotted. Unfortunately, that only played out well in his mind because the second he stepped out of the cabin door a bulky, short man charged at him with a curved sword. Sehun stumbled back into the door with a surprised yelp and looked over the man’s shoulder to spot Kyungsoo engaged in a fight with two men just a few steps ahead.

_Great._

_This keeps on getting better._

The taller male observed sarcastically and skittered away awkwardly from the door just in time to avoid the tip of the sword which would have been embedded in his head instead of the door if he was even a second late. The resulting thump that resonated from the impact – Sehun was sure there were splinters too – was loud enough to garner Kyungsoo’s attention though dreadfully he couldn’t do anything to help him because he, himself, was pretty much occupied.

Realizing that he was all on his own without any help, Sehun _tried_ not to panic and attempted to move out of the corner, but a hand from the back took hold of his shirt and thrust him straight into the railing. He let out a painful huff and doubled over, but wasn’t given a lot of time to nurse his injury because the guy was onto him again the very next second, this time thankfully without the sword which the taller male noticed was still stuck in the door.

“Running somewhere?” Sehun truthfully wanted to punch off that smug smile, but he decided against it when he saw the guy pulling out a smaller blade out of his pocket. Instead, he tried to back up against the railing as much as he could which was kind of useless because the man covered the little distance he had managed to put between them within the duration of seconds.

“I knew the captain’s cabin will have something useful.”

_Whatever happened to the safest place on the ship?_

The taller male groused mentally in panic and tipped his head back a bit to avoid the blade when the guy in front of him lightly pressed it against his neck.

_Fuck._

_I am going to die._

“I-I am of no use to you.” Sehun was sure the horror on his face was obvious. What if this person took him hostage? Will the pirates even care to get him back? What can this guy possibly even use him for? He really didn’t want to appear so weak, but _damn_ he was ready to wet his pants. He just wanted someone to take that blade miles away from his neck.

“Oh- you are not, but you are rather pretty. I’m sure you will look prettier in my sheets.” Disgust along with fear-filled Sehun’s body to the brim as soon as he heard that.

“Do you know who I am?” He couldn’t stop himself from snapping.

“Oh Sehun.” The man replied easily while increasing the pressure. Sehun has to bite down on his lower lip to stop the small noise of agony that threatened to spill past his lips, especially when blood started to slowly trickle down from the newly formed wound.

“Your father told us we can do anything we want with you if we ever get to have our hands on you. He doesn’t want you back.” Sehun knew that his father was an awful person. He kind of expected that from him – he would have been surprised if he hadn’t done something revolting – but still, he couldn’t help the cold hand of dread that wrapped around his throat upon hearing that.

“So I just might keep you for myself-”

“You can dream,” The taller male sneered with a scowl – the anger coursing through his body overshadowing the fear – and without wasting another second brought up his leg to knee the guy between his legs. That apparently served to be surprising because the bulky man took a step away from him with a cry. Sehun basked in the sheer satisfaction that he got from his pain for a moment before crouching down to pick up the blade that the other male has dropped.

“You won’t even get off this ship alive.” It was more of a promise than a threat.

“Who will kill me?” The guy mocked with a glower and pulled out yet another blade.

“You?” He continued and charged at him. Sehun, instinctively, brought his own blade up to avoid the blow and staggered back from the sheer strength that the other male has used. His opponent didn’t seem to deter at all from his failed attempt because he pulled back the blade just to slash it in his direction again. Sehun barely managed to evade that one and wasn’t nearly given enough time to get out of the way, the third time, because the blade caught his left arm.

“Fuck.” The taller male let out a pained whimper and instantly slashed his own weapon upwards. It didn’t quite injure the guy, but at least it made him step away from him.

“We will get there, don’t worry.” The imprudent man responded and charged at him again. There was literally no way Sehun could have avoided it this time around so he did the first thing that came to his panic riddled mind – he screamed.

“You can open your eyes now.” An unamused voice remarked which conveniently prompted Sehun to realize that he should have been hurt a few moments ago and the fact that he wasn’t brought the awareness that someone from the crew must have saved him which just caused a huge wave of relief to wash over him. Letting out a shaky sigh, he opened his eyes just in time to see the captain pulling his bloody sword out of the _now_ dead man’s body.

“H-how...oh my you- _Lord!_ Y-You killed him.”

“Thanks for pointing out,” Jongin responded apathetically before sheathing his sword and wiping his blood-stained hands on his black pants.

“I would have never realized without your help.”

“Why are you always such an asshole to me?” Now wasn’t exactly the time, but Sehun really couldn’t stop himself from asking that. That guy earlier has been an absolute dick to him. He just wasn’t going to put up with the captain too. Plus, Jongin didn’t look like he was in a hurry and the noise around them was beginning to die down which he sure hoped meant that they were done with the fight.

“You talk as if you are any better.”

“I don’t invite people to my cabin and then, later on, tell them to practically get lost.”

“I never told you to get lost.” Jongin corrected which only incited Sehun to narrow his eyes.

“I am not stupid.”

“It is not my fault that you are way too sensitive and can’t handle a little bit of sarcasm.” The tanned male replied with the casual wave of his hand (which just made him look more assholish in Sehun’s opinion) and turned towards Kyungsoo who has just gotten rid of the guy he was struggling against previously.

“Did I really need to write it down for you to listen and just fucking stay inside the cabin?”

“I can’t just stay inside and be useless,” Kyungsoo argued and threw away his stained dagger too after noticing that there were no more men to fight with. Actually, it was only then when Sehun realized that the two fleets that have attacked their ship have completely disappeared.

_Wow…_

_I was too busy saving my own ass._

“You were not being useless.” Jongin gritted out before jabbing a thumb in Sehun’s direction with obvious annoyance on his face.

“I needed someone to freaking babysit him.”

“Excuse me!” Now, Sehun was genuinely offended. What the hell was wrong with this snooty captain? He was just trying to save his pregnant crewmate.

“I don’t need anyone to _babysit_ me.”

“Really? You were as good as dead before I killed that man.” The captain argued with a ticked brow and slightly raised voice.

“You are definitely not capable of taking care of yourself. All you needed to do was stay inside so you won’t be a bother, but you can’t even do that properly. This is not your father’s huge mansion where you can do as you please. This is a freaking pirate ship and we were in the middle of a fucking fight. There is no one to pamper you. You have to be smart here yourself.” Something hot snapped inside Sehun as soon as he heard that and the saddest part about it was the fact that it _hurt_ him more than it made him angry. Maybe he was being sensitive, but after hearing that guy earlier objectifying him and telling him that he was of no use other than in the sheets, Jongin’s words just stung more than they should have. 

“You don’t need to be so rude, man.” Chanyeol cautioned warily from the side.

“I am not being rude. I am just giving him a reality check.” The captain argued which only caused Sehun to fist his hands in anger by his side. He was very much capable of taking care of himself. He was useful and brave. He was not just a pretty face who needed pampering and was apparently only made for the bed. He will not let the other male spout shit about himself just like that.

The captain, himself, acknowledged it all just three days ago then why was he making Sehun feel shitty about himself again? Why did Jongin even make him feel good about himself in the very first place if he was just a bother? Why did he make an offer for him to stay and join the crew if he just hated him?

_Jerk._

“I am sorry for being such a bother to you,” Sehun replied as tersely as he could and cradled his injured arm before briskly making his way down towards the main deck. He had a lot more to say, but something told him that it would be a lost cause. The captain would just find more things to humiliate him with in front of the rest of the crew.

“Dude, what the hell is wrong with you? He was just helping me. If someone was at fault here then it was me.” Sehun heard Kyungsoo indignantly speaking up just before he slammed shut the door that led below the deck.

Jongin can shove his stupid shitty attitude up his stiff ass.

…………

Sehun was conflicted.

He was conflicted and _mad_. He just didn’t understand what was it that made Jongin hate him so much, so suddenly. Yeah, they were never on great terms, but the captain has never been this rude to him before even when Sehun has directly enticed him in the very beginning. Moreover, the last few days that they have spent while being on civil terms with one another, things were starting to get better.

What the hell happened then?

Only Jongin can answer that but he just wasn’t going to go find the tanned male and ask him about it, especially now. Yeah, he admits that running after Kyungsoo was stupid – even when his intentions were nice, he was of no help and made matters worse because Kyungsoo was perfectly capable of taking care of himself – because if Jongin hadn’t killed that man on time, it may have ended in a big tragedy (most probably Sehun would have ended up dead or fatly injured at least) and starting an argument with the captain right after the clash wasn’t the smartest idea when he knew that the other male has been on edge the whole time.

To add a cherry on the top, they have failed to do what they have planned which in simpler words meant that they still don’t know what his father’s source of information or aid was. By arguing with him at that very moment, Sehun has presented himself on the silver platter to Jongin. The tanned male has vented out all his frustrations on him; it may have been some other poor crew member if Sehun had been any smarter. So maybe partially, just partially it was due to his own stupidity, but despite understanding all those particularities, the taller male still couldn’t really vindicate and justify the captain’s behavior and his harsh words.

The captain had no right to treat him like that.

_Well, this isn’t helping at all._

A whole day has passed since their disagreement. A whole day which the taller male has spent being holed up in his cabin. It was kind of weird now to be alone after having the company of the crew members for the past few weeks, but he just didn’t have the courage to step out when there is a possibility that he might bump into Jongin. Sehun had even refused to step out for any of the meals because he just didn’t have the appetite. He was so damn angry. Plus, the fear of coming face to face with the captain kept him rooted in his bed.

Baekhyun was the only one who came to spend time with him during his self-induced exile, but the shorter male had given up eventually when he had realized that his best friend was actually pretty mad. Knowing him for years, the other male probably knew that leaving him alone for the time being would be the best thing to do. Nevertheless, the taller male still appreciated the fact that his friend brought him food to eat because as mad as he was at Jongin, he still didn’t want to starve.

Baekhyun might have said something to the others too since none of the crew members disturbed him, except for Yixing who had insisted to heal the wound on his neck and arm. Other than that, he was given the time and peace that he needed to actually decide whether he was okay with putting everything behind his back or not. For a wild second, Sehun had even contemplated leaving the ship and the crew, but then he couldn’t bring himself to expand further on that resolution because he knew Baekhyun won’t let him go alone which eventually meant that he would have to make a decision whether he wanted to support his best friend whom he had known for almost his whole life or stay with the guy he recently developed feelings for.

No matter how mad he was, he would never put his best friend through that. It was just so unfair to him. Besides that, he had kind of grown attached to the rest of the crew even if the captain was an absolute dick to him. He didn’t want to leave them all behind only because Jongin is too short-tempered to control his harsh, snarky tongue. With that resolve concreted in his mind, Sehun has decided to step out of his cabin during lunchtime and have opted to hang around the main deck to get some Sun and fresh air which he has deprived himself of for the past few hours.

“You are out.” Turning his head slightly to the left, Sehun acknowledged Junmyeon’s presence and nodded his head.

“I was getting sick inside that cabin.” He replied honestly before turning back around to face the sea. It has been kind of therapeutic to stare at the calm, steady waves.

“Understandable.” The elder male sympathized before coming to stand beside him against the railing. There was a tense moment of silence between them – Sehun knew what Junmyeon was going to say and the latter ought to know how Sehun would react –before the other male continued.

“I hope you’d be able to forgive my brother for what he said to you yesterday.”

_Wow._

_These Pirates don’t beat around the bush at all, do they?_

“Ask your brother to apologize and we have no problem.” Why should he beat around the bush then? He’d be straightforward as well.

“Fair enough.” Junmyeon accorded with a hum looking slightly surprised by his response.

“I honestly thought you would curse at me for saying that.”

“Why should I?” Sehun inquired with a frown.

“You are not responsible for what the captain says.”

“I am not.” The other male affirmed before sighing.

“But I kind of am at the same time. As his elder brother, I feel ashamed of his behavior.” Another moment of silence passed between them before Sehun decided to speak up again.

“Why does he hate me so much?” The taller male couldn’t really help the pang in his chest whenever the thought of Jongin hating him for some reason crossed his mind. He had no idea why and he wanted to keep it that way. He did not want to divulge on it more than necessary; he had no wish to think about it until it turned into something dangerous.

“He doesn’t hate you, Sehun,” Junmyeon replied with a scoff as if what he heard was utterly ridiculous.

“If he hated you, he would have just ignored your presence like you didn’t exist.”

“Then why?”

“He is being stupid. That is all I have to say.” The elder male replied with a shake of his head.

“Jongin has never been good at these things anyway. He is a hopeless mess.”

“At what things?” What the hell was Junmyeon talking about?

“You will find out. I am in no position to tell.” The other male responded with a rueful smile.

“Then don’t confuse me over it.” Sehun objected with a scowl before facing the sea again. No matter what the reason was, Jongin shouldn’t have talked to him like that. Maybe it was his anger speaking, but the taller male didn’t think he was being irrational. He had the right to be angry and at least, expect an apology from the captain.

“I know-”

“Wait,” Junmyeon frowned in confusion when Sehun suddenly interrupted him and leaned over the railing.

“There is something towards the front of the ship.”

“What?” The pirate looked baffled.

“There is something following our ship,” Sehun repeated while racing towards the stairs of the quarterdeck.

“Sehun, that is not possible. Jongin would have known if something was following us in the water.” The elder male reasoned and climbed the stairs behind him.

“I don’t think it is quite swimming in the water,” Sehun muttered just loud enough for the other to hear him.

“It is floating in the air.” Junmyeon finally came to stand beside him and made a small choked noise.

“What the hell is this?”

“How would I know, if you don’t?” The taller male pointed out and leaned forward a bit more to get a proper look at whatever it was in the water. Honestly, to him, it looked like an overgrown centipede or something of the same kind. It was about three feet in length and had an extremely disturbing red mouth and eyes.

“This looks disgusting. We should inform the crew.” Junmyeon advised before moving back.

“Step away and be careful. It definitely looks hostile-”

“Fuck!” Sehun cried out before jumping away from the railing when the creature in the sea suddenly bolted up and literally swallowed his whole left hand. He was positive that the thing was aiming for his face and was thankful that he had stepped back in time though this situation wasn’t any better because his hand was literally burning inside the mouth of the fucking mutated centipede.

“Shit! Step back!” His elder companion shouted in alarm.

“I can’t,” Sehun shouted back in panic and tried to pull his hand out, but it only felt like he was grating it against something extremely sharp.

“My power isn’t working. It is too strong.” Junmyeon gritted out and pulled out his blade just in time the captain came running down the stairs of the helm.

“What the fuck?” Jongin cursed out in disbelief though a second later a huge wave of water raised from the sea to trap the creature’s body completely. Other than increased pressure on his hand, which was even more painful, nothing happened for at least half a minute – Jongin looked like he was concentrating hard, but it just wasn’t working – and Sehun was ready to take drastic measure own his own when suddenly the water ebbed away. The taller male let out a stuttering breath of relief when the centipede went down with the water and staggered away from the railing with his profusely bleeding hand.

“Is it dead?” Junmyeon inquired cautiously after a long daunted moment of silence and turned to face Jongin when he came to stand next to him.

“Yes.” The tanned male confirmed with a nod and furrowed his brows.

“What was that? I have never seen anything of the sort. I didn’t even feel it.”

“It wasn’t in the water,” Junmyeon informed before shaking his head, still looking a bit disturbed.

“It _looked_ like it was swimming, but Sehun says that it wasn’t.” Both pirates turned to face the injured male at that. Sehun looked up from his hand – it was starting to burn – once he noticed that all the attention was on him and quickly averted his gaze when he caught the captain’s eye. Jongin didn’t seem to mind it all that much because he fixed his stare on Sehun’s bleeding hand.

“You need to get that healed.” The captain stressed almost right away and reached out to take hold of his hand.

“I can-”

“I don’t need your help.” Sehun interrupted him curtly, despite the obvious pain on his face, and took a step away so that the other male won’t be able to touch him.

“I am capable of finding Yixing on my own, at least.” Jongin pressed his lips in a thin line as soon as he heard that though he didn’t protest when the taller male walked past him to go down the quarter-deck.

“You are an idiot and he totally deserves an apology from you.” Junmyeon chastised his youngest brother before letting out a sigh.

“I’ll go after him and make sure that he finds Yixing.”

…………

Despite being scared of confronting the captain again, Sehun didn’t miss the dinner in the mess hall. He saw no reason to. Yeah, he didn’t want to face the other male, but it wasn’t like he had done something wrong. If anything, Jongin should be the one ashamed of himself. He should be the one avoiding Sehun because he had acted like a complete asshole, not the other way around.

The crew was happy to have him join them again because it has been more than a whole day since he has last talked to anyone of them which wasn’t done deliberately. After he had conveniently taken a fraction of his anger out at Jongin, he has gone to find Yixing as he has promised and has gotten his injured hand treated. He had gone to sleep before lunch and have only woken up an hour ago.

“Where is Jongin?” That was one thing Sehun didn’t want to know.

“I don’t know. Haven’t seen him around since the morning.” Minseok replied with a frown.

“I saw him taking a bottle of rum to his room,” Jisoo replied helpfully from her place.

“Has he been drinking the whole day?” Junmyeon inquired with a disapproving scowl.

“He is such an idiot.”

“What is bothering him anyway?” Joohyun drawled with an indifferent air around herself.

“Staying holed up in the room for the whole day is something he has never done before.”

“There are a lot of things he has been doing lately which he has never done before.” Jongdae butted in helpfully before perking up.

“Besides, I think he is going through a cultural shock.” The quartermaster continued with a grin and faced Sehun.

“I heard you sassed the captain earlier today and judging from how we are all still sailing smoothly I’d say he took it better than I thought he would.”

“Yeah, I heard that too.” Johnny jumped in enthusiastically before Sehun can ask what that was supposed to mean and came around to thump him on his shoulder.

“That is really cool. The crew may look like we are not afraid of the captain, but none of us have the guts to tell him off.”

“No wonder he is so spoiled.” Baekhyun snorted in his cup of water before leaning back in his seat.

“Though Kyungsoo was pretty stern with him the other day.”

“Oh- I was. That idiot needed some sense knocked into his thick skull.” Kyungsoo immediately elaborated before shuddering.

“But yeah, none of us want to make him angry. It is scary. You can’t even imagine.”

“I think I could.” Sehun deadpanned, but the cook slash cartographer only shook his head.

“What you saw was nothing. The anger I am talking about includes dark skies, storms and sea waves tearing at absolutely everything that comes within their reach. Not to mention the poor creatures under the sea. It is really chaotic. Last time, Jongin got angry he nearly ruined a whole civilization down there.” Kyungsoo contradicted with a grimace.

“Jongin is inestimably powerful and his powers are very closely linked to his emotions,” Chanyeol explained when he saw the horror on his new crew members’ faces.

“To be honest, I don’t fault him for having an immensely poisonous sort of wrath. None of us do and that is within reason.” He continued with a grim expression.

“The captain _rarely_ gets angry. Seriously, he never loses his cool because he knows he can’t afford to lose control over his emotions. All the anger and frustration just bottles up inside him until he finally explodes. That is why he acts indifferent most of the time. Being unmoved and cold is something he is very familiar with. It is his comfort zone and he gets defensive or irked when something forces him to step out of it…” The tall male trailed off with a sympathetic wince.

“The fact that my father, the former keeper of Azure, sort of drilled into him not to show any emotions because that meant being weak just made everything worst. It is definitely not healthy and of course, Jongin has gotten a lot better at it over time, but there are still times where he simply can’t help himself.”

“Your father was the former keeper?” Baekhyun sat up straight in his place immediately.

“Yeah, and he wasn’t very affectionate. Actually, he was very strict. He just wanted to train us properly and wasn’t against afflicting physical pain if it meant that we learned well. No one thought that it was necessary to stop him so I and Jongin took the brunt of it.” Chanyeol finished off with a frown before turning towards Sehun.

“Don’t get angry at me, but I told this all so that you can see our captain is a bit emotionally _constipated._ ” Sehun's forehead wrinkled at that.

“What do you want _me_ to do about it?”

“Nothing.” The other male replied with a shrug.

“Just don’t be too hard on him if he ever apologizes to you.”

“I don’t see that happening anywhere in the near future so don’t worry,” Sehun replied with the roll of his eyes even though he genuinely felt sorry for Jongin. It was so unfair and it was a lot of pressure. He understood where the captain was coming from now, at least somewhat, still, he was hurt by everything that has been bluntly thrown at his face. Deep inside, he knew that he was taking Jongin’s words in the wrong direction because the tanned male just wasn’t the type of person who would imply something so degrading, but it still hurt.

An apology.

That was all he needed.

“Wait-” Baekhyun conveniently broke his chain of thoughts.

“Should he be getting drunk if there are dire consequences?”

“Relax.” Jongdae pacified with a chuckle and patted his boyfriend on the back.

“We have insane alcohol tolerance.”

“What?” Sehun snorted before moving forward.

“Does it come with Anari’s blood-” Sehun broke off in the middle of his sentence when the door of the mess hall was slammed open.

“What the hell?” Joohyun cursed out in shock, but he really didn’t blame her for it because…yeah, what the _hell?_

“ _Insane_ tolerance, wasn’t it?” Sehun griped as soon as he overcame the shock.

“We do have it,” Jongdae responded still looking mildly baffled.

“Then-”

“ _Why_ is the captain drunk?” Tao demanded incredulously.

“Actually, make it _how_ did he get drunk? How many bottles has he emptied?”

“You are so loud.” The said captain slurred with a grimace and stumbled inside in a slightly wobbly manner.

“You are drunk.” Minseok observed, not looking pleased at all.

“I am not.”

“Jongin-” The eldest brother was pointedly ignored by the youngest as he wonkily turned to face Sehun who to his credit managed not to physically freak out when he noticed the tanned male slowly making his way towards him.

“I-I think I should go to my room now.” The taller male stuttered out in panic before getting up from his seat in hopes of walking away, but Jongin was faster than him – somehow even while he was drunk – because he arrested Sehun by his arm and pulled him down on the seat again while settling down on the one in front of him.

“I think you should sit here and listen to me.” Jongin sounded strangely sober when he said that.

“You are drunk.” Sehun tried to wrench his hand away, but the other male didn’t let up. He would have given the captain a chance to say whatever he wanted to but, it was awfully awkward and embarrassing with the whole crew watching.

“You are mad at me.” The tanned male continued as if he hadn’t heard him.

“Jongin I-”

“I know you are. I deserve it too.”

“We should talk when you are sober.” Sehun once again tried to pull his arm away, but the captain held on.

“I am sorry. What I said was uncalled for.” Jongin started once again.

“I had no right to say it and I didn’t mean it even, but…but that man…what he said.” He broke off with an angry scowl.

“I just got angry a-and lost my cool. I seriously wanted to break his face...and then he could have killed you...if I was a moment late. Y-You and Kyungsoo could have gotten hurt. I am the captain. I can’t let that happen.” Even though Sehun had known that the other male didn’t mean to imply anything when he exploded at him the other day, but still, his verbal confirmation lifted a heavyweight of his chest. It was funny how he felt ridiculously touched when Jongin admitted that he was angry at what the man had said.

“I know I am trying to apologize, but you have to admit that running out of the cabin wasn’t the smartest move either.” It was strange how at one moment the captain was a stuttering, drunk mess and the other moment he sounded like he hadn’t taken a drop of alcohol.

“I know that was a stupid move.” Sehun finally admitted and gave up on his struggle to pull his arm away. The other male definitely wasn’t going to let him go anywhere until he was done speaking.

“A-And I didn’t…I didn’t mean to tell you to go away that day in my cabin. It’s just that you…you, you- ugh I don’t know. It is not you. It’s me. You know what? Something is wrong with me. I don’t f-find you annoying like others. I like it when you talk back to me or try to rile me up and I-I simply can’t take you seriously because you look so _fucking_ cute even when you are angry or when you are smiling...you look absolutely beautiful when you smile.” Sehun gaped at the male in front of him with a burning face (there was no hiding it this time) though he wasn’t given a lot of time to comprehend just what was being said because Jongin tugged on his arm to decrease the decent amount of distance between them. The choked noises of surprise that came from the crew caused him to light up like a freaking bulb further.

“Umm…” Sehun began dumbly, feeling extremely shy and anxious (his heart was beating so loud in his head), but ended up only trailing off in mortification when Jongin leaned forward to nuzzle his nose against the side of his neck.

“You smell so nice too.” Completely unaware of what he was actually saying or doing, the tanned male slurred on drunkenly and even though it embarrassed him to no end, Sehun couldn’t really stop himself from shivering when he felt soft, plump lips against the sensitive skin of his neck.

“I think…I think you-”

“Okay.” Junmyeon practically screeched and came forward to grab the captain's arm before forcefully pulling him away from an extremely flustered Sehun.

“I think you have said enough.”

“But hyung!” Jongdae complained right away.

“Why would you do that? Why would you stop him? Do you know this was our only chance to see him doing something embarrassing? Why would you cut the fun short?” The quartermaster continued in a whiny tone.

“I can’t believe I am saying this, but I agree with Jongdae.” Jisoo supported her crewmate and looked at Junmyeon with dissatisfaction.

“I was having fun.”

“Stop it, you guys.” Minseok scolded even when he looked extremely amused himself.

“Jongin go back to your cabin and sleep it off.”

“But-” Jongin's objection was cut short by a stern shake of the head from the eldest.

“I said go. Now. Junmyeon take him before he embarrasses Sehun any further.”

“Hey! I’m sure Sehun didn’t mind it.” Baekhyun added in with a cackle that finally snapped Sehun out of his reverie. He turned around to give his best friend a scathing glare before getting off his seat and practically running out of the mess hall at the speed of lightning.

_This was so embarrassing._

Though Baekhyun was right. He didn’t mind it all that much. Actually, he kind of appreciated it. Even if he wasn’t sober, the captain had apologized to him and that in itself made him feel a lot lighter.

………

Jongin was the only one in the mess hall when Sehun stepped in for the breakfast the next day. The tanned male had his face buried in his hands with a hunched back and pasty complexion, looking as pitiful as one person possibly could. He was also apparently too out of it because he didn’t even lift his head up to see who was in the same room as him.

For a second, the taller male hesitated by the door and contemplated whether he should leave the captain alone – there were no signs of the other crew members which should be a warning enough for him, but maybe he was thinking too much and it was just too early for everyone to be awake since Baekhyun had still been peacefully sleeping in his bed before he left the cabin they shared – but decided against it in the end when he heard Jongin release a despondent groan. Smiling a bit in amusement, he completely took in the tanned male’s miserable being and finally decided to have some mercy on him by making him a glass of fresh lime which he was sure would help with the nausea of the hangover.  
  


“Here,” Sehun encouraged mildly, a bit cautiously even, before placing the glass in front of the other male and sitting down on the adjacent seat. Jongin lifted his head up almost right away, as if someone has electrocuted him, and furrowed his brows in confusion when he saw that it was Sehun who was lending him a helping hand.

“Well…it is fresh lime.” The taller male urged again when the captain continued to stare at him dumbly.

“I know,” Jongin’s voice came out hoarse as he slowly pulled the glass closer to his chest.

“I just thought that you were mad at me.”

“I was,” Sehun confirmed off-handedly with a faint smile before leaning back in his seat comfortably with the cup of water which he has earlier fetched for himself. The captain wordlessly followed his movements with inquiring eyes but made no move to make a response. Instead, he brought the glass of fresh lime up to his lips and slowly sipped at it.

Sehun observed him quietly from his place for a minute or so before letting out a small chuckle.

“You don’t remember what you did last night, do you?” It was more teasing than accusing.

“I didn’t happen to capsize the ship or something, I hope,” Jongin responded listlessly before slumping in his seat again in a pathetic mess.

“You didn’t,” Sehun confirmed with a snort before continuing.

“However, you did give the whole crew quite a shock. How much did you drink?”

“Trust me, you don’t want to know. I feel sick to my stomach just thinking about it.” The tanned male responded with a cringe before letting out a sigh.

“Anyway, why are you being nice to me?”

“You talk as if I am awful to you most of the time.” Sehun pointed out with a raised brow.

“Awful isn’t exactly the word, but you are definitely not _nice._ ” Jongin cleared with the shrug of his shoulders which only made the taller male scoff.

“I wasn’t the one who was being an ass at least.”

“I am sorry about that.” Sehun snapped his mouth shut as soon as he heard the captain apologizing. It was a bit surprising – very surprising actually – because he hadn’t exactly expected the other male to apologize to him again, especially when he was fully sober.

“I should have controlled my temper. Taking all my frustration out on you _wasn’t_ the right thing to do. As a captain, that was really irresponsible of me even if what you and Kyungsoo did was utterly stupid and dangerous…” Jongin trailed off at the end of his sentence with a grim smile.

“I am genuinely sorry. Just know that I didn’t mean a single word I said back then. You are more than capable of taking care of yourself and others. I had no right to imply otherwise and you are definitely not a bother.”

“I knew that you didn’t mean it,” Sehun informed before placing his cup down.

“You did?” Jongin looked slightly skeptical.

“Well, I didn’t know till last night,” The taller male elaborated with a suppressed smile.

“But you kind of barged into the mess hall yesterday and…and you…” The heat started to slowly climb up his cheeks without any prior warning.

“And?” Jongin implored with a ticked brow.

_What the hell convinced me to bring this up?_

“I didn’t do anything that bad, come on.” The tanned male beseeched desperately when he got no answer; the glass of fresh lime completely forgotten.

_You kind of nuzzled against my neck told me I smelled nice and called me cute, oh and beautiful too._

Sehun would rather drown himself than saying that out loud, especially when you add to that the fact that he didn’t exactly mind anything the other male said or did.

“You apologized?” That sounded like a lie even to his own ears.

“Right. I apologized.” The captain looked like he was questioning his life choices at the moment or maybe he was trying very hard to remember what he actually did.

“You don’t sound so sure about that.”

“It was nothing, really-”

“Oh- Jongin!” Jongdae’s enthusiastic voice rang from the entrance of the mess hall.

_Oh God, please not him._

“You know I am in the same room as you. No need to scream my name.” Jongin grouched, not looking pleased at all with his brother, and cradled his throbbing forehead again.

“Aww look at you all irritated and grumpy.” The quartermaster all but ignored his youngest brother and strutted in with Mark and Chanyeol in his tow.

“I can’t even get annoyed.” Sehun felt his face burning as soon as he comprehended where _that_ was headed.

“You look so _cute_ like that.” Jongdae finished off with a serene smile and settled down next to the captain.

“Are you drunk?” Jongin apparently didn’t get the memo which wasn’t really a surprise since he didn’t even remember what happened last night.

“Cute? Didn’t he say beautiful?” Mark played along callously and sat next to Sehun.

“What are you talking-”

“I think so too.” Chanyeol interrupted the captain effortlessly before settling down on one of the empty chairs.

“Sehun, why don’t you confirm it?” The said male averted his gaze instantly when he made an eye-contact with a very irritated and puzzled Jongin.

“Stop it already.” Sehun protested weakly, but he was ignored.

“As far as I remember it,” Jongdae began again with a smirk.

“My youngest, dearest brother here called you beautiful. _Absolutely_ beautiful, if I am not remembering it wrong, especially when you smile.” The captain literally looked like someone has dunked a bucket of cold water on his head. Something about the glazed look in his eyes told Sehun that the memories of the previous night were slowly coming back to him after being prodded like that.

“Don’t forget the part where our captain _nuzzled_ – yes, nuzzled – against Sehun’s neck and told him how nice he smelled.” Sehun sincerely wanted to throw the remaining water in his cup on Chanyeol’s face.

“Oh, Lord! That was so damn fun-”

“Shut up!” Jongin cut his brother off and shot up from his seat. Sehun would have been concerned if the other male didn’t look so obviously embarrassed. Even though his face was still set straight and blank there was no way anyone would miss the way his ears were burning a bright red. It also wasn’t hard to notice that the captain was avoiding making eye contact with him with the way his eyes were aimlessly jumping from one place to another.

“But captain-”

“I swear, I will throw you off the ship, Park.” The threat would have been menacing only if the person making it hadn’t looked so adorably flustered. Sehun had to bite his tongue to stop himself from grinning.

“That won’t give Sehun a nice impression of you, captain.”

“Fuck you!” Jongin cursed when he found himself at the loss of words and stormed out of the mess hall, all the while cursing a certain Kim Jongdae in his head.

* * *

“Hey, can we talk?” Sehun inquired carefully while lingering about the stairs of the helm that he has just climbed. He didn’t know whether Jongin would be open to having a talk with him or not at the moment because he has been avoiding him for the past two or three days. He really wouldn’t have bothered the captain until the other male was ready to face him again if it wasn’t for the fact that what he wanted to talk about might be of some great importance.

“Oh- it’s you.” Jongin acknowledged awkwardly and turned around to face him.

“Yeah, Minseok told me you were steering,” Sehun responded while nervously shifting in his place. He still didn’t know whether he was welcomed or not.

“I see.” The captain noted with a nod of his head before clearing his throat.

“What do you want to talk about?”

“I heard from Johnny that you guys- I mean he told me that you are planning on…”

“Sehun, look. I know he is your father, but-”

“No. No, that is not what I meant. My father has killed enough people and he will continue to do so. I am not against you guys taking him out of the equation completely.” Sehun clarified before hesitantly taking a step closer to the other male.

“I am really not. It’s just that I don’t think taking out my father is going to work. Killing him might give you a temporary solution, but it definitely won’t be a permanent one.”

“I know that, but if we keep track of your father’s men then we can control the situation. Eventually, the people who are working for him would scatter away too.” Jongin responded in a calm, patient tone. Something told Sehun that the other male still thought that he was trying to talk him out of killing his father, but it truly wasn’t his intention.

“What about that missing source? Someone out there knows your secret and we have no idea _how_. Shouldn’t you be thinking about that? You guys think that whoever this person is they are working for my father, but what if I put it the other way? My father is working for that person or at least they are in this for mutual benefit.” Sehun broke off to heave a sigh.

“Trust me, I don’t care about my father. He is a monster, but I truly think that he isn’t the root here.”

“You are saying that this missing source of information is behind everything?” Jongin concluded with a thoughtful expression before turning back towards the wheel.

“It is possible,” Sehun confirmed with a firm nod of his head.

“Everything is possible, Sehun.” The taller male didn’t know if it was the moonlight casting shadows on his face or the captain actually looked exhausted.

“I have thought about it too you know, but this is really our best bet.” Jongin really was drained. It was apparent from how dejected he sounded. It made Sehun realize just how difficult the whole thing must be for him. If he had spent an hour thinking about it just out of curiosity, the tanned male must have spent weeks doing the same because there was so much on the stake. He must have tossed different possibilities around his mind to decide which one they were supposed to go by. It must be so demanding to be a captain of a ship and crew which was responsible for such an important task. All the decision making, pressure, worries and accountability of the lives of the members abroad the ship fell on Jongin’s shoulders.

Now Sehun understood why the whole crew respected and trusted the captain and his decisions so much.

“You might be right, you know. I am not saying you are wrong, but there are loopholes in every system. Somehow, someway, maybe through an accident someone found out and now they are helping your father. I can’t think of any other possibility. This person could be anyone. They could be either very powerful with supernatural abilities like us – an existence that we are not aware of – or just a common man who accidentally stumbled across classified information.” The captain turned away from the wheel again to face him, looking quite grave.

“Let’s assume this person is the one behind all of this. Where do we go from that? We still don’t have any way of knowing who they are or where we can find them.”

“What about that creature following us? Is it not an important clue?” This time, Sehun was a lot milder in making his suggestion because, really, he understood where the other male was coming from.

“Exotic creatures can be tamed and controlled so I don’t know how much of a clue that thing was,” Jongin replied with a shake of his head before frowning.

“I still don’t know what it was though which is odd, but again not impossible since it wasn’t practically swimming in the water.” Letting out a hum, Sehun walked towards the railing and folded his arms over it. He stared out into the open sea for a minute or two before finally breaking the silence again.

“That creature is called Sepa.” It was funny, the way Jongin – he had gone back to steering- sharply turned to face him.

“You have read about it?”

“Just recently. Actually, it was only a day ago.” Sehun responded before slightly turning his face to the right to look at the other.

“It was primarily curiosity, but I also had a hunch that this overgrown centipede was an important part of the loop. I went to the study and took out all the books I could find on Anari or any legends related to her since I didn’t know where else to start from.”

“There are quite a many books in the study related to her.” Jongin sympathized with a wince.

“Yeah, I skimmed through three stupid books filled with myths. A colossal waste of time, to be honest. The fourth one turned out to be interesting but didn’t have the information I wanted. The fifth one was the same as the first three and the sixth one went along in the same fashion…” Sehun trailed off with a slightly sheepish smile when he realized that he was rambling. The captain didn’t look like he minded it, but he still decided to get on with what was actually important.

“I was…I was truly about to give up on it, but the sketch of Sepa towards the end caught my eye.”

“You found it in one of the books related to Anari’s legend? I think I have read all of them, but I never came across this creature.” Jongin shared with a wrinkled nose and absent-mindedly trailed his finger along the railing.

“I didn’t find it in Anari’s legend.” Sehun amended in a guarded manner before continuing.

“I told you already, right? I took what I can on people related to her too. You didn’t have a lot of books on Ismus on your shelves, but I came across Sepa in one of his legends and I’m pretty sure this creature would be mentioned in all of them.”

“That overgrown thing is related to the previous god of Sea?”

“To a great extent,” Sehun confirmed immediately much to the captain’s concern.

“Sepa was a creature greatly celebrated with Ismus. I haven’t managed to read a lot and I don’t know how much of it is true, but apparently it was greatly loved by the previous God of Sea. Sepa was also regarded as a symbol of Ismus’ power and went extinct centuries ago along with him. I will try to read and see if I can find more about them, but…”

“This is not possible.” The tanned male interjected, looking quite pale.

“Ismus was killed for heaven’s sake! All the books say that. Anari told me the same thing and the Creator-”

“Ismus was _punished_ ,” Sehun stressed before the other could ramble on any further.

“That does not mean he was killed, Jongin. All the books say he was punished. The Creator never confirmed his death. No one knows what happened to him unless Anari told you something that others don’t know.” There was a long stretch of tense silence from Jongin’s side before he finally released a disbelieving laugh.

“So…that pest is alive.”

“I am not sure.” There was no way to be sure.

“No, no, that makes so much sense no matter how hard I want to deny it. The possibility just never occurred to us, not even Anari. You are right. He was punished. That was the exact word the Creator used while delivering the news to Anari. We just assumed. Ismus has to be alive.” Considering how concerned the captain looked all of a sudden, Sehun didn’t know if he had solved things for him or complicated them further.

“If Ismus is alive, he ought to know what sacrifice Anari was asked to make to live on the land. There is a great possibility that he had wanted to do the same while he was still the ruler of the Sea. He was also very obsessed with her. That explains the fixation. He wants Azure because he wants Anari.” Not knowing what else to contribute with, Sehun mutely nodded his head and straightened up in his place.

“If Ismus is alive and somehow connected to my father, what are you going to do about it?”

“I don’t know yet, but I think this helps. Having some lead is better than diving into this whole mess blindly.” Jongin responded, sounding a bit distracted.

“Your father started explicitly bothering us about a year and a half ago. Did you see someone unusual who came to visit him or who he went to visit or maybe some incident that was totally out of the norm?” Sehun shook his head at that question with pursed lips.

“I have always maintained my distance from my father and his affairs so I can’t be a lot of help here. Baekhyun might know though. He knew about all the gossip going around the whole Helmi. If something unusual happened, there is a great possibility that he knows about it.”

“I will ask Baekhyun tomorrow when I see him then.” The captain decided before giving him a smile; it was small, but it was there and most importantly it looked genuine.

_Perhaps, I have helped._

“Thanks a lot. There are still a lot of blind ends, but _this_ takes us somewhere.”

“I am glad that I was of some help.” Sehun expressed with an airy chuckle before shifting in his place a little to move closer to the stairs.

“I guess, I should let you steer in peace now.”

“Uh…” Jongin started, looking like he wanted to say something else, but in the end, he thought better of it because he simply shook his head and gestured towards the stairs.

“Yeah, sure. It is getting late anyway.”

“How long is your shift?” Sehun inquired just for the sake of the conversation while walking towards the stairs of the helm.

“A few hours more.” The captain replied before raising a brow.

“Why do you ask?”

“You look like you can use some rest.” The taller male pointed out while shooting a look over his shoulder.

“When did you start caring about my rest?”

“I was just making an observation.” Sehun deflected with the nonchalant shrug of his shoulders – even when the question hit home quite literally and _indifferent_ was his last mode of attitude towards it – before waving a hand over his head in order to make a hasty escape. Why did his brain to mouth filter always fail him whenever he is around the captain?

“See you in the morn-”

“Are you not angry with me?” The question honestly caught him off-guard.

“What?” Sehun turned around with his eyes narrowed in confusion (all previous thoughts forgotten) and took a step away from the stairs again. What the hell was he talking about? Didn’t they make a truce a day or two ago?

“I mean…” Jongin began again after an awkward pause.

“I am sorry for what I did the night I got drunk.”

“You think I am mad at you because of the other night?” The taller male inquired just to make sure what the captain was apologizing about. Perhaps, he should be mad. He really would have been if it was anyone else other than the captain.

That realization wasn’t an abrupt one, contrary to that he has been thinking about it a lot for the past two days.

“You have all the right to be and I am really apologetic if that made you feel uncomfortable.” Sehun's eyes lit up in amusement even though he was fairly impressed at the sentiment. Jongin really was an enigma. At one moment, it would seem like he didn’t care at all, but the other moment he would act like such a sweetheart. After being on the Sea for such a long time – he was a pirate captain for crying out loud – one would say that he won’t know a lot about being a gentleman. Maybe he truly didn’t, but he still had his morals intact and that was commendable, especially when he was in such a position of power; the power that is lethal. Sehun had experienced personally how it turns people into monsters.

“You have been apologizing to me awfully a lot lately.”

“Not something I am proud of.” Jongin declared with an uneasy laugh.

“Why? Consider yourself too good to do that?”

“Should I be offended by that assumption?” The tanned male questioned with a ticked brow which instantly caused Sehun to shake his head in denial.

“I didn’t intend for it to be offending.”

“Just because I don’t say sorry a lot doesn’t mean I don’t feel apologetic or I think myself to be too good for that.” The captain cleared up with a sigh after a short moment of staring at him. 

“I have never been very comfortable when it comes to expressing myself verbally and the crew knows that. If I do something wrong, I have my own ways to let the other person know that I feel guilty. I do makeup to them through my actions.”

“Why didn’t you make up to me that way then?” Sehun was just teasing initially – he has not expected the captain to take him seriously – but now he was actually interested.

“I tried to,” The captain admitted frankly.

“…but you blew off on me _which_ is understandable. You obviously don’t know me as well as the others do.”

“Fair enough.” The taller male approved with a nod before smiling.

“You don’t need to apologize for this one though.”

“What I did that night was…wrong?” Jongin contradicted, not sounding too sure, before averting his gaze towards the Sea. To anyone else, his actions may have meant nothing, but Sehun knew him enough by now to be able to tell that the other male was feeling nervous.

“You were clearly drunk.” He tried to justify, but the captain only shook his head.

“That was wrong. I didn’t mean to make you feel uncomfortable. I really didn’t mean any of it.”

“Oh, yeah?” Sehun challenged and crossed his arms over his chest.

“Yeah,” Jongin affirmed confidently though he still refused to meet his eyes.

“You didn’t mean it when you apologized?”

“Except for that one! I meant that.” The other was quick to amend.

“Does that imply I smell bad?” He was obviously joking and the captain must have known it too because he stayed mute for a long second, which Sehun took as a silent objection at being teased like that, before stiffly shaking his head with a scowl.

_Oh God, this is so fun._

Sehun knew that he shouldn’t provoke Jongin like that for his own good, but it was just so fun to see him get all stiff and awkward. Besides that, it has always been the other way around. It was kind of gratifying not to be at the receiving end of the teasing for once.

“You didn’t also mean it when you called me cute?” This time, Sehun wasn’t able to keep the amusement out of his tone which visibly made Jongin fidget. Despite that, the captain didn’t get flustered liked he had gotten back in the mess hall that day which was pretty sad.

Sehun was determined to change that.

“And I don’t look beautiful when I-”

“You are playing with fire.” The sudden terse warning caused him to break off in the middle of his sentence. He wasn’t scared – because the other male didn’t make it sound scary – but Jongin didn’t look like he was kidding too. His words had gravity. They had layers and layers of meaning beneath the surface and for once Sehun understood it. He felt the full weight of it with the way the other was staring straight into his eyes.

“So what?” He countered and took a step closer to the captain. The taller male didn’t know where the courage or the motivation came from, but for once, he didn’t want to play it safe – nothing was ever safe when it came to Jongin.

“It will burn you.” All signs of the fidgety, awkward guy were gone. The one talking to him now was the confident, self-assured captain who knew what he was talking about. He could virtually see it in Jongin’s eyes – the truth, the sincerity, the intensity, and the _desire._ The last one was the most prominent. Sehun could practically _see_ it raging behind the hard, brown irises. It sent a rush of want throughout his body. He wanted to be burned. He wanted to be consumed by that fire.

“Maybe I want to get burned.” Jongin’s eyes quite literally blazed at that. They oddly fascinated him. The look in them pulled him in. They _tempted_ him like nothing has ever before. He knew he has always been attracted to the other male – yes, he finally admitted it – but this was so, so different. This was more serious. It came with more implications. It made him want to unravel the _real_ Jongin; Jongin who was a brother, a comrade rather than the hot, but snappish captain who had so many responsibilities on his shoulders. Above all, Sehun wanted to reserve that look only for himself. He didn’t want the tanned male to ever look at anyone the same way he was looking at him right now.

“Trust me, you don’t.” The captain argued with a guarded expression.

“It can’t be undone, Sehun. It will leave a permanent scar.”

“I don’t mind it.” He meant it. He really didn’t.

“You should. I’m not worth it.” Sehun’s eyebrows furrowed as soon as Jongin said that. He pressed his lips into a thin line and took another step towards the captain.

“Why don’t you let me decide that on my own?” His voice came out sounding undeniably breathy. In any other circumstance, Sehun would have been embarrassed, but right now he couldn’t find it within himself to care, especially when Jongin finally showed some kind of reciprocation and diminished what little distance was left between them.

“You…” The tanned male started, looking almost transfixed, and hesitantly brought one of his hands up to rub his thumb against the pale cheek, like he had done back when Sehun had gotten scuffed.

“You don’t know what you are talking about.” The way Jongin traced his features with his eyes was completely contrary to what he was saying or at least what he was trying to say.

“You know what, captain?” He taunted before sucking in his bottom lip and boldly leaning into the warm touch.

“Just for this once, I think I am the one who knows what I am talking about and _you_ are too cautious and guarded to admit that.” Jongin shifted his gaze up to meet Sehun’s eyes before he slowly but surely trailed them down to take in the soft, pink mouth that has always drawn him beyond belief. The taller male’s breath hitched when a sturdy arm wrapped around his waist and pulled him in.

This was the closest they have ever been and no matter how shameless it sounded, he wanted to be closer.

“I am high maintenance.” The captain made another feeble attempt at deterring him.

“You are not.” Sehun refuted right away.

“You just need someone stubborn to bother you all the time.” A subtle smile stretched across Jongin’s lips.

“I feel like you just need an excuse to bother me.” The taller male snorted at that.

“I don’t need an excuse to do that.”

“Sehun-”

“Are you going to kiss me now?” He demanded bluntly, much to the tanned male’s surprise when it seemed like another reasoning was coming his way. Junmyeon was right. The captain was a mess when it came to these things.

“You are a bratty one.” Jongin huffed with a playful frown before he slowly licked his lips. Sehun followed the movement of that sly tongue with his eyes before catching the captain’s gaze.

“I can be a bad one too.” Fuck. What the hell did he come off so suggestive for?

 _Is Kim Jongdae fucking rubbing off on me_?

The captain appeared to be having the same thoughts as him because after the initial shock he released an incredulous laugh, all dimpled, though it did nothing to hide the lewd and sinister glint which flashed through his eyes.

“Correct me if I’m wrong,” Jongin entreated with an amused smirk before the arm around Sehun’s waist tightened.

“But that sounded kind of kinky.”

“I-I didn’t mean it in that sense.” There was no hiding the blush that bloomed across his cheeks. He can’t freaking believe he just said that.

“You must have meant it in a completely platonic way. People normally do that.” Jongin jested breezily. The smirk on his face didn’t dwindle away even a bit, in fact, it increased in size.

“Are you being sarcastic?” Sehun inquired with a scowl.

“I would never dare to.” The captain’s wicked response only caused his scowl to deepen. He was definitely being mocked.

“I liked it better when you were being awkward.” The taller male protested and attempted to step away – because _damn_ the captain was being annoying yet again – but the arm around his waist didn’t give away.

“You can’t leave now,” Jongin put forward in a dark, sultry whisper and trailed one of his veiny hands up the side of Sehun’s body in a slow, torturous dance. There was a smug twinkle in his dilated eyes as if he knew exactly what he was doing and just what kind of effect it was having on the person in his arms.

Sehun gulped discreetly when the captain thoughtlessly thumbed along the corner of his mouth and leaned forward to provocatively line his lips against his’. At that moment, he wanted to do nothing more than to bend forward and press their lips together properly, but something about the look on the other male’s face kept him rooted in his place. This wasn’t the awkward guy from before. This was a shrewd beast playing around with his prey.

“I warned you there is no out.” Sehun’s heart skipped a beat when he felt the tanned male’s lips teasingly brushing against his own.

“Make me stay then.” He breathed out and eyed the plump lips in anticipation. He shifted his gaze up when the hand that was previously thumbing the corner of his mouth moved to cup the side of his face instead.

“You asked for it,” Jongin mumbled arrogantly before finally closing the distance between them completely. All the tension that has accumulated between them ever since their first meeting snapped right then and there leaving behind a very gratifying sensation.

Sehun closed his eyes, almost instantly, when he felt the sweet pressure of the plush lips against his own and unconsciously reached his hand out to fist the back of the captain’s shirt. That seemed to have encouraged the tanned male because he physically shifted in his place to make their bodies align better and tilted Sehun’s head to get a better angle.

The kiss was soaked in a passion that kindled, but it still started off as languid and cautious. The movement of their lips gave away tenderness, but it also had a lilt of suppressed desire which made the taller male eager to proceed with the slow dance. Jongin seemed to be on the same page as him because he soon gained confidence and easily traced the hand, which was previously content on Sehun’s narrow waist, up to tangle his fingers inside the taller male’s silky locks. Sehun let out a small whimper when he felt nail scrapping his scalp slightly and opened his lips in an invitation when wet, hot tongue probed them for an entrance. The captain didn’t waste a single second in availing the chance and thrust his tongue inside to assault the sweet cavern that he has been starving to devour – and devour he did.

Sehun released a startled gasp and scrambled to wrap his arms around the other’s neck when he was picked up without any warning. He looked down at the captain with wide eyes and opened his mouth to say something, but the tanned male interrupted him by catching his lips in another intense kiss. Sehun tightened his hold on Jongin’s neck to make sure that he won’t fall and simultaneously tried his best to keep up with the demanding lips that gave him no reprieve and worked effortlessly to steal all the air out of his lungs. It was another case that he failed miserably because it was obvious that the captain was more experienced than him.

They didn’t kiss for long – it felt awfully short or maybe he had no sense of time anymore – but by the time Jongin pulled away Sehun was drunk on passion. Feeling high from the lack of oxygen, the taller male wheezed when he was pushed against one of the wooden masts and leaned his head back with a moan to give the other more space when he felt soft lips dragging along the sensitive skin of his neck.

“ _God!_ ” The captain almost sounded pained as he panted against the crook of his neck.

“I have wanted to see you like this for so long.” He confessed before gently nibbling on the skin under his lips.

“Like wh-what?” Sehun’s voice cracked in the middle when the other male delivered an especially stingy bite to his neck.

“Like this,” Jongin emphasized as if what he said was obvious and once again brought one of his hands up to trail his fingers along the side of Sehun’s face before tracing them down his neckline.

“These hooded eyes, flushed cheeks, and swollen lips. You look beautiful like this.”

“More than when I smile?”

“No, not more than that.” The taller male scoffed at that even though a scarlet blush burned his skin.

“You are ridiculously good at smooth-talking.”

“I am just telling the truth. That is easy enough-”

“That is sweet and all, but you guys should take that somewhere inside.” Someone deadpanned from the back, making both of them jolt in their places. Sehun yelped in fear when Jongin almost dropped him in the shock.

“Kyungsoo.” The captain acknowledged in quite an irritated tone and carefully steadied Sehun on his feet.

“Jongin.” Kyungsoo returned the favor before shaking his head with a smirk.

“Minseok sent me up to check on you.”

“Why did he think that it was necessary?” Jongin grouched with furrowed brows and took a step away from Sehun while licking his lips almost as if he was trying his best to savor the taste of their kiss.

Sehun wasn’t proud of himself when his eyes automatically followed the movement of that tongue.

“I don’t know,” Kyungsoo responded listlessly.

“Though it might have something to do with the fact that the ship has been sailing in the wrong direction for the past five minutes and he thought that you have miraculously fallen asleep during your shift.” The shorter male continued with the shrug of his shoulders before turning to face Sehun, who averted his gaze in mortification. He can’t believe the captain has been so busy with him to realize that they have been going in the wrong direction.

“I will let him know that you were just a bit occupied with Sehun here-”

“Don’t test your luck, Kyungsoo,” Jongin warned with a glare.

“What else will I tell him when he asks me about it?” Kyungsoo inquired looking as innocent as one person could, but the smirk on his face was a total give away of his pretense.

“You don’t need to tell him anything.” The captain argued before taking hold of the wheel again.

“That is not how things work, captain.”

“Kyungsoo, I will throw you off this ship.”

“You can try,” Kyungsoo challenged with a scoff before ignoring the tanned male in favor of facing Sehun again.

“Anyway, _you_ might want to go down now if you don’t want Baekhyun to know about any of this. He has been looking for you and unsurprisingly Jongdae is with him.”

“I-I will.” The taller male cursed himself for stuttering like a fool when he saw an entertained smile growing on the pirate’s face.

“Or…” Kyungsoo started again with a wicked grin.

“The captain and you can continue whatever you guys were doing in his cabin. I will just go and ask Minseok to take this shift-”

“Okay,” Jongin cut the shorter male off with an annoyed groan.

“No one is taking my shift. It is getting late. Go and sleep.” The captain articulated firmly and pointed towards the stairs.

“Fine, Sehun let’s go.”

“I never asked Sehun to leave!”

“It is getting late, captain. Sehun needs to sleep too.” Jongin looked like he was seconds away from _actually_ throwing Kyungsoo in the Sea.

“I am-”

“Sehun!” Baekhyun’s distinct voice interrupted before the tanned male could speak. It was funny just how irked the captain looked.

“What are you doing here? I have been looking around for you?” For some very stupid reason, Sehun decided to blush at that very moment.

“Nothing. I-I just came across something that could be important so I came to tell the captain.” It wasn’t a lie technically. What happened afterward was not planned at all.

“Finally found something from those books you have been reading.” Baekhyun teased just in time Jongdae released a choked sound.

“ _That_ is what you have been doing here, huh?” The quartermaster piped in an accusing manner while pointing in the general direction of Sehun’s neck. The taller male was confused for a second, but the scandalized look on Baekhyun’s face which appeared next gave him the idea of just what was being discussed at the moment.

Sehun couldn’t really stop himself from sputtering.

“I j-just came to tell him about that s-stupid Centipede!” The taller male defended himself heatedly and brought his hand up to cover the mark when he saw the captain staring at his neck. It was absolutely ridiculous how Jongin’s heated gaze alone flustered him more than the situation at hand and apparently the other male was very well aware of that because he cast one last look at the now-covered-mark before smirking self-righteously.

_Moron._

“That went well, didn’t it?” Jongdae teased with a cackle which finally seemed to have snapped Baekhyun out of his trance.

“Fuck! Did Jongin give you a hickey?”

“Baekhyun!”

“I thought you hated him.” His best friend all but ignored his indignant protest.

“Hatred is the second name for sexual tensi-”

“I came here to see what all the commotion was about,” Minseok intervened before Jongdae could finish whatever he was saying.

“…but never mind. I don’t want to know.”

…………

  
Like Sehun had predicted, Baekhyun did turn out to be a huge help in finding out whether Lord Oh has been doing something unusual or not.

Apparently, almost a year and a half ago, his father along with his crew had disappeared for almost two to three months and when he did finally return it was only with a few men; Lord Oh’s crew of almost fifty men was reduced to only fifteen or at least that is what Baekhyun had heard.

Sehun did remember his father’s disappearance, solely because his elder brothers have wreaked havoc in Helmi – not that they usually didn’t, but it was extreme by their standards even – during his absence, but he had also believed him when the old man had told his mother that a sea storm wrecked their ship while he was traveling through the northern seas.

Rumors, of course, had it otherwise.

From what Baekhyun has heard and from what the shorter male has observed himself, the ship wasn’t wrecked. Yeah, Lord Oh did come back on a different ship, but people say that they have seen the vessel that his father has used sailing the sea for business purposes a few months later. Those stories could be pure bullshit and they didn’t really have any way to confirm them, but what his best friend revealed next did settle that his father was at the very best hiding something big.

  
_“Every six months, not a day later or sooner, Lord Oh sail from Helmi on that same ship with that same crew. No one knows where they go. I heard them saying it was business, but now that I think about it...”_

  
Sehun, of course, had known about his father’s frequent journeys, but he had never noticed that they were so punctually planned and had such peculiarities. Baekhyun hadn’t shared these details with him before, but then again the shorter male must have thought them to be baseless rumors with no ground or credibility. The public of Helmi thrived on gossip and sometimes the things you hear are hyper-scrutinized and outlandish. However, all those rumors did make sense now even though they still don’t have any way to confirm them.

The brightest solution for this problem was to wait for his father to leave for his ‘secret journey’ again, but the fact that they didn’t _know_ when that would be posed great trouble.

  
“Sehun?” The said male awkwardly shifted in his place and raised a hand to meekly wave at the captain.

“Hey.” He greeted hesitantly before taking a step closer to the door of the cabin which the other male has conveniently left open.

“Do you need something?” Jongin inquired with a confused frown before shifting in his seat and beckoning him to come closer with the drawing compass in his hand. The taller male didn’t know what he was doing, but from the looks of it, it seemed like he was working over one of the maps displayed over the desk.

“Don’t just stand by the door. Come inside.” Sehun cautiously did what he was told and after a moment of reluctance, he gently closed the cabin door behind himself. A soft hue of red involuntarily took over his cheeks when the captain thoughtfully eyed the closed door before raising an amused brow at him.

“You closed the door.” He pointed out the obvious.

“Don’t get any ideas.”

“Don’t blame me if I do.” The tanned male replied in a blasé manner before turning to face the map on his desk again.

“What brought you here?”

_You._

Sehun really wanted to say that, but he caught his tongue at the very last moment. It was true though. He had left the helm with Baekhyun and Kyungsoo after Minseok had joined them which meant that he didn’t get a chance to have a proper talk with Jongin at night. The next morning was way too hectic for them to have a moment together alone. In the mess hall, every crew member was there except for Yifan and they have spent most of the time discussing Ismus and Lord Oh.

Surprisingly, Baekhyun and Jongdae haven’t gone around running their mouths telling everyone about what had happened last night which was a fortunate thing, but a part of him wished for them to do it so it will give him an excuse to bring the whole matter up with the captain. Jongin wasn’t avoiding it. Sehun had caught the other male staring at him – it was so evident that he wanted to say something – from distance the whole day, but there just wasn’t an appropriate moment because more often than not they were accompanied by the other crew members.

Basically, there wasn’t a lot to talk about, but at the same time, he felt like all the important details were too vague. They have talked, but in riddles which meant that nothing was clear. After sitting alone in silence and thinking over it, the taller male really wasn’t sure what the captain meant when he talked about permanent scars. It could either be something very deep and emotional or it could simply refer to the mark that is given by Anari.

Sehun didn’t have a lot of details about it, but he had seen it on Kyungsoo’s wrist. It was a tattoo of a flame which he thinks have something to do with Chanyeol’s power considering that his power was fire and he had the same tattoo in the same place. However, Kyungsoo had also told him that he got it from Anari after his marriage with Chanyeol so he didn’t see why Jongin would mention it now.

The mark wasn’t even his concern. That was something they could talk about later on, but he wanted to know for certain where he stood with the tanned male and for that, he was here. Plus, he had actually wanted to see the other, especially after knowing that his feelings were reciprocated. There was this irrational urge to be close to him and perhaps have a repeat of what happened last night – Sehun especially wanted the last one, but he was never going to admit that out loud. He just wanted the tension between them to dissolve so that he can finally stop blushing whenever the captain breathes in his direction.

“Hey,” Jongin’s voice broke his chain of thoughts.

“Are you alright?” The other male was looking at him in concern, the compass in his hand completely forgotten.

“Y-Yes,” Sehun responded before clearing his throat.

“Baekhyun told me that we are following my father’s ship at the moment.” Baekhyun had also given him all the details, but he needed an excuse.

“We are.” The captain confirmed before picking up the compass again.

“It was a very happy and fortunate coincidence. Minseok went out to meet Jaehyun today and he told us that your father is about to set sail with an oddly few number of men. I thought it is worth a shot to follow him and see where he is going.” Sehun hated the way Jongin sounded so distracted.

“Do you have any idea which direction we are headed to?”

“Not at the moment,” Came the instant, but a brief response.

“I am trying to work that out along with some other details.”

“So…you are busy?” It was rather evident that the other was busy, but he still wanted to be sure.

“Kind of?” The captain replied with eyebrows pinched in concentration.

“Oh,” That came out sounding a lot more dejected than Sehun intended for it to be and he really hoped that the other male wouldn’t notice it.

“Umm…I will leave you to it then?” Jongin finally raised his head and properly looked at him.

“You clearly don’t want to.” There was a subtle smile dancing along his lips.

_I hate him._

“Yeah, but you are busy.” There was no point in denying it.

“Wait for me?” The captain offered before mentioning towards his bed.

“It will take me a few minutes more.” A smile slowly formed on Sehun’s lips too though he suppressed it as best as he could.

“I think, I can do that.”

“How generous of you.” Jongin mocked with a chuckle – revealing that oh-so-awesome dimple that Sehun would die for – before turning back towards his work.

“Make yourself comfortable.”

…………

Sehun didn’t mean to sleep.

He really didn’t. He didn’t even mean to lay down, but Jongin’s bed was unreasonably comfortable and warm. The pillows seemed extra fluffy. The sheets were really soft to touch and the blanket smelled exactly like the owner of the bed which he thought was unfair because he freaking loved that scent. It made him want to snuggle against the cushiony quilt so he did exactly that – of course, after making sure he was not being watched – though he didn’t really expect to fall asleep.

“You are awake.” Sehun snapped his head to the right when he heard that and rubbed his sleepy eyes before properly looking at Jongin. The tanned male was sitting on the other side of the bed with his back against the headboard. There was a book with a colorful cover in his hand which he put down in favor of turning towards him.

“What?” He demanded, feeling a bit shy under the captain’s wandering gaze.

“Nothing, I just realized that you finally got to enjoy the bigger bed.” Jongin pointed out with an indulgent smile that made Sehun snort.

“How long have I been sleeping?” He asked instead of making a response.

“I got free about half-an-hour ago.” The captain replied with the shrug of his shoulders.

“I don’t really know when you exactly fell asleep, but it should be up to an hour.”

“An hour...” Sehun repeated in wonder before scrambling to get up.

“It must be pretty late then. I should go back to my roo-” The taller male broke off with a startled yelp when a hand on his wrist pulled him back down on the bed.

“You came here to talk, Sehun. I’m not letting you go before that.”

“I never said I wanted to talk.”

“Yeah, but I still know you wanted to say something and I have been waiting,” Jongin stressed confidently and slowly let go of his wrist when Sehun once again made himself comfortable.

“You got it all wrong, captain. _I_ was the one waiting.” The other male grinned at that.

“Wrong.” He declared breezily before scooching down to lay beside him.

“You were sleeping.”

“I slept while I was waiting for you,” Sehun argued with a scowl though it soon morphed into something less recognizable when he caught the captain’s eyes straying downwards. He felt his heartbeat spike up with a pang of desire; which was totally unwarranted, but well…not entirely unwelcome.

Sehun found himself staring back at the other in anticipation for the next few seconds before he finally decided to speak up.

“What are we, Jongin?” He inquired in a whisper as if he was afraid that being loud would ruin the peaceful, yet charged atmosphere around them.

Jongin’s eyes jumped up to meet his’ almost instantly.

“What do you want us to be?” He deflected, but Sehun was having none of it.

“I am asking you.”

“You know, I’m not good with words.” The captain reasoned with a tense smile.

“I noticed that you are pretty good with words around me.” That was a reach, but Sehun wanted to hear it from him.

“It is easy to talk to you.” Jongin, to his shock, agreed with him after a long moment of silent contemplation, and then shifted in his place so that he was hovering over him. Sehun’s heart practically soared to his throat right that instant and it refused to go down even when he tried to swallow it.

“T-Then tell me. I want to hear it.”

“I am not going to put any labels unless you agree with it,” The captain elucidated, the expression in his eyes giving away just how serious he was.

“…but I have feelings for you and I am confident about them.”

“Feelings,” The taller male reiterated with a small, shy smile.

“Yes. Feelings which I think can bloom into something more.” No matter how bad, Jongin claimed he was with words, Sehun loved the way he was so blunt and straightforward in his dealings. There was no pretense or deception. The other male always meant what he said.

“I won’t mind if you call me your boyfriend.” Sehun offered kindly which softened the captain’s features.

“I like you and I think being in a relationship with you would be a beautiful and wholesome experience.” He continued and reached out with his hands to trail his fingers along the length of Jongin’s face who silently followed the movement with his eyes.

“Even if I’m a jerk sometimes?”

“Sometimes?” The taller male teased which caused the captain to scowl.

“Here I thought you were being sweet.”

“I am being honest,” Sehun emphasized with a scoff before his features melted again.

“My feelings are within reason, Jongin. I don’t like you just for the sake of it. I know the crew members like to make fun of you from time to time, but trust me all of us _see_ the whole lot in you. You are a great captain, friend and…”

“And?”

“You are _not_ a great partner if that is what you were expecting to hear.”

“We haven’t even started a relationship yet.” Jongin pointed out with a frown, definitely not expecting that answer.

“Does not change the fact that you left a hickey on my neck and then smirked like an asshole while I was being embarrassed because of it.” The taller male retaliated.

“Minor details.”

“It is not a _minor-_ ” Jongin rudely chopped his complaint off by catching his lips in a brief kiss which Sehun wasn’t even given a chance to respond to.

“You talk a lot.” The tanned male breathed against his lips – purposely prolonging each syllable.

“Is that how you woo them all?” Sehun couldn’t really stop himself from asking that.

“I never really wooed anyone before this.”

“You don’t expect me to believe that.” It was more of a statement than a question and the taller male was sure the other knew it.

“Trust me, I never really had to. People liked me well enough without it.” Jongin’s eyes were basically twinkling in mischief by that point.

“Narcissist much.”

“I only speak the truth.” The other male claimed off-handedly before he slowly leaned down again; apparently he was done talking. Sehun decided not to make a response too in favor of following his movements with barely concealed eagerness and allowed his eyes to flutter shut when he felt hot breath washing over his lips.

The kiss yet again was a brief press of lips, but for some reason, it was a lot more intimate and sensual. Perhaps, it was the pink, sly tongue that came out to impishly dance along Sehun’s bottom lip which made the difference, but he really couldn’t tell for sure, especially when his mind was practically racing at that moment and he could think about nothing other than the fact that he wanted to kiss Jongin again.

The tanned male, to his delight, seemed to have read his mind because he wordlessly shifted his weight on one of his hands and reached out to firmly hold onto Sehun’s waist with the other one. It looked like he was in no mood of wasting time anymore, judging from the way he swiftly tilted his head downwards and straightaway dived in for a lewd, open-mouthed kiss rather than the innocent ones that they have shared thus far that evening.

Sehun wasn’t complaining either way. Contrary to that, he enjoyed every single second of the kiss that they shared. It left him breathless, so much so that he has to take in shallow, shaky breathes once Jongin has pulled away in order to take some much-needed gulps of air into his lungs. Panting heavily, he opened his eyes to stare up at the captain and without any hesitation brought his arms up to wrap them around his strong neck when the other male pulled him in once again.

The taller male let out a silent whimper when he felt cold fingers against the heated skin of his waist and impulsively canted his hips up to push their bodies closer. He would have most probably proceeded to entangle his hand in Jongin’s silver locks – they were so damn silky to the touch – but the other male pulled away with a loud groan and hastily got off him, even before he can move a single limb.

Blinking up at the ceiling a bit in a dumbfounded manner, Sehun tried to catch his breath before he turned his head to the side to stare at the captain’s side profile.

“What-”

“You should leave now.” It was so damn obvious that the other male didn’t mean what he just said.

“Are you blushing?” Sehun inquired, sounding half confused and half-amused.

“No!” Jongin was quick to deny it.

“Your best friend would come knocking on my cabin door in a few moments. I don’t want to give him another reason to get on my nerves.” The fact that there was so much frustration in that sentence entertained him the most.

“We should probably stop here anyway.” The taller male responded with the shrug of his shoulders and turned on his left to properly face the other.

“There is no need for me to leave.” Jongin looked like he was contemplating whether he wanted to bang his own head against the wall or whether he wanted to whack Sehun on the back of his head for being so damn oblivious. Whatever it was, he definitely didn’t look convinced or impressed.

“It is late.” The captain asserted with a shake of his head before quickly sitting up in his place.

“You should go and sleep.”

“Why are you suddenly- Oh?” Sehun broke off in a sudden moment of realization when he caught Jongin clumsily covering his lap with a pillow.

“ _That_ is why you want me to leave.” He teased with a smug grin though admittedly he felt quite flattered and shy. To be fair, he was at least half-hard as well, but his pants were a bit baggy which helped him conceal his arousal, Jongin, on the other hand, wasn’t as lucky because his pants were quite tight which meant that they hid nothing.

“You are testing my self-control.”

“Am I?” Sehun mocked with a smirk and slowly stood up from the bed.

“I heard that you have insane control.” The captain rewarded him with a scathing glare.

“You heard wrong.”

“But you-”

“Just leave!”

“Okay, okay.” Sehun finally conceded with a laugh and walked towards the door.

“Want me to start a cold shower for you?” Jongin’s irritated groan was the last thing he heard before he slammed the cabin door shut behind himself.

Now he knew why Jongdae and Baekhyun liked to tease others so much.

* * *

“The captain is going to be so mad at us.” Oh, there was no doubt in that. Sehun was sure that his boyfriend was going to be livid once he finds out that they have left the safe sanctity of the ship to follow them…but in their defense it has been hours since Jongin along with his brothers, Chanyeol, Luhan, and Tao has left for the desolated island in quest of following Lord Oh and his crew.

Their decision to follow his father’s ship had proved to be fruitful because the old man was clearly going to meet Ismus – or whoever was helping him – and it became increasingly obvious with every passing day.

Sehun had been glad for the lead all this time, but he wasn’t so sure about it anymore. He had this sickening feeling that maybe this whole thing was a trap and they have sailed right into it. He knew that he should have some faith in the captain, but it was getting progressively harder to convince himself with every second that streamed by without carrying the happy news of their return. It shouldn’t have taken them so long. According to Yixing, it has never taken them so long which meant that something has gone wrong.

“It has been six hours since they left, Mark. We can’t just wait at the ship and do nothing.” Kyungsoo argued while tightening his hold around the dagger.

“But the captain forbid us from following them.” The youngest among them argued before facing Sehun who was awkwardly holding onto a blade of his own.

“We should have at least left Baekhyun and Sehun at the ship. They are not trained enough for this situation.”

“With whom?” Joohyun demanded with a frown before reaching out to kick the stone ledge in front of her to see whether it was sturdy or not.

“One of us could have stayed back.”

“I don’t think that would have been a very smart idea.” Yifan, who was left behind by the captain to steer the ship away from the island once they have gotten off at the coast, interjected with a frown.

“Baekhyun and Sehun couldn’t fight. Leaving only one person to protect two people and a whole ship when the enemy is this dangerous is…not a clever move.” Sehun had honestly been worried about the ship when Kyungsoo had suggested for all of them to go and look for the missing crew members, but it had been for nothing. Apparently, Anari (their ship) was magical as well because upon Yixing’s command it had gradually sunk under the surface of the seawater and have completely disappeared from the sight. Baekhyun and Sehun, of course, had panicked right away, but Yixing calmed them down by saying that they often did it and nothing on the ship was going to drown or even get wet.

Long story short, the safety of their traveling vessel was the least of their issue. The only catch here was the fact that Jongin along with Junmyeon were the only ones who could pull it back up.

“The captain took Luhan and Tao with them too. They are the best fighters among us.” Johnny added in helpfully before looking around with a frown.

“This place is so huge, dark and isolated. We can look for hours and still not find the others.”

“What is this place even? I have never seen or heard of this island and that is to say, something because I have spent more than half of my life on the Sea.” Yixing inquired with a confounded expression on his face.

“Considering how it is in the middle of nowhere and there is no land around I am not surprised that we never came across it.” Yifan justified with a sigh.

“There is no doubt Lord Oh came by this place on accident. It is so abandoned.”

“There used to be a whole civilization,” Sehun informed with a growing sense of dread.

“Look at all these houses. We passed by a market place too. People used to live here.”

“Yeah…some hundreds of years ago, maybe they did.” Baekhyun agreed drily.

“I don’t think it was hundreds of years ago.” Sehun refuted right away.

“These structures aren’t that ruined. Some of them are still sturdy.”

“I think the more concerning part is what happened to the people of this island,” Jisoo remarked before carefully throwing open the door to an abandoned house.

“We have no way-”

“I see light.” All of them whirled around to look at Joohyun who has somehow managed to climb up a roof – which looked like it would collapse any moment now – without being noticed.

“What are you doing up there?” Kyungsoo demanded with a groan.

“Getting us somewhere because thus far we have only seen abandoned buildings and then more abandoned buildings,” Joohyun replied apathetically before jumping down.

“Umm…make that abandoned buildings and a dead body,” Baekhyun interjected and pointed towards the pool of blood that indeed led to a dead man.

“He has been stabbed.” Yixing observed while stepping closer to the corpse.

“And it hasn’t been long. There are chances that the other guys came across him.

“It is possible.” Sehun agreed.

“I mean, it is odd that we didn’t come across even a single person yet. We have been wandering around for about an hour now. The others must have already weeded the guards out.”

“His arm is burned too,” Yixing added in with furrowed brows.

“Maybe Chanyeol did it?” Kyungsoo guessed, but the healer only shook his head.

“It looks like an acid burn.”

“Acid?” Joohyun repeated before stepping closer.

“Yeah,” Yixing confirmed before pressing his lips in a thin line.

“The skin of the whole arm is burned and there are rings of sharp cuts on it too.”

“Do you…” Sehun cautiously started and walked closer to the body in order to get a proper look at the arm.

“That Centipede, Sepa, it did the same thing to my arm before you healed it, didn’t it?”

“I was thinking the same.” The healer affirmed before continuing.

“I can’t be too sure though unless I try to heal it.”

“Guys,” Mark suddenly called out, sounding a bit panicked which automatically sent a ripple of fear among the whole group.

“What?” Kyungsoo turned to face him in alarm but froze in his place almost instantly. Sehun spun around in his place too and instinctively took a step back when he saw the same creature they have been talking about.

“Sehun,” Baekhyun’s voice was literally shaking and it would have been funny if they weren’t in such a dire situation.

“Correct me if I am wrong, but this shit wasn’t so big when you got attacked the other day.”

“This one is four times its size.” Sehun testified, the tremble in his voice giving away his obvious fear.

“God damn it! That one was about the size of my arm. This one seems taller than Yifan is.”

“Do you think there are more?” Jisoo inquired nervously and pulled out her long sword because obviously a tiny dagger wasn’t going to make a lot of difference.

“We can only find out,” Kyungsoo responded gruffly before taking a fighting stance.

“Gather around and avoid its mouth at all costs. I heard from Sehun that this thing feeds on human flesh.”

……………

They put up a great fight.

They really did, but Sepa was a lot more powerful than they were. Sehun was sure that the creature would have eaten all of them in dinner if it wasn’t for Chanyeol who showed up out of nowhere – looking a bit roughed up and battered – and burned the whole thing within the duration of the next five or so minutes even though it took great effort. The tall pirate has then proceeded to face them with an angry scowl and crossed his arms over his chest.

“Who in the hell told you this was a nice idea?” He demanded angrily, looking straight towards his husband.

“You were gone for more than six hours!” Kyungsoo argued while cradling his injured hand and walked closer to Yixing when the healer beckoned him.

“Kyungsoo,” Chanyeol called out sternly.

“This is not the time for this. You guys need to go back. Ismus has taken Jongin and Minseok hostage.” Sehun’s heart dropped as soon as he heard that.

“But how? He shouldn’t have any powers-”

“He definitely isn’t as strong as he used to be, but he still has some of his powers or at least he has some sort of command over Jongin’s powers considering that he managed to one-up us even when we caught him off-guard. There are also hundreds of these centipede creatures here. All of us are exhausted.” Chanyeol replied with a sigh.

“Where are the other guys?” Yixing inquired with blatant concern on his face.

“We got separated. Tao is with me. I left him in one of the houses to come and see what was happening over here.”

“We need to find the other guys.” Yixing asserted immediately, but Chanyeol only shook his head.

“Go back to the ship. We don’t afford to give any more hostages.”

“Ship is out of the question.” Kyungsoo interrupted before Yixing can respond.

“We have hidden it under the sea and you know only Jongin and Junmyeon can pull it back up.” Chanyeol looked like he wanted to argue with that but in the end, decided not to; perhaps, in hopes of preserving his energy.

“Let’s move on then.” Joohyun encouraged before pushing past all of them to walk further inside the abandoned town.

Surprisingly, it didn’t take them long to look for the missing crew members. They have been walking past a dark, narrow alley when the sudden commotion from the inside has startled them. Naturally, they have assumed that it was one of the centipedes attacking one of their own members so they have rushed inside.

For once, the luck seemed to be on their side because it indeed turned out to be true, but instead of one, they have found all of the missing guys. Junmyeon has looked so relieved when Chanyeol has burned the screeching thing down to the ground and have slumped against the wall behind himself.

It concerned Sehun a lot.

Junmyeon and Chanyeol looked exhausted to their bones. They were in no position to fight anymore. Jongdae’s power was of little help and fighting Sepa with weapons wasn’t very effective as they have already tried.

They needed Minseok and Jongin and for that, they needed a plan because force wasn’t going to take them anywhere.

…………

It was either Ismus was too proud and didn’t expect them to survive his monsters roaming around the island or he wanted them to find him because his lair was way too out in the open and was certainly not designed for hiding purposes. The fact that it was the biggest, most well-maintained building on the island with light coming out of it didn’t help conceal his whereabouts too.

Sehun had an idea about what he wanted.

“Oh, look, your crew is finally here.” A gruff voice noted as soon as they entered the huge building.

The taller male, for a second, didn’t get who the voice was addressing, but then he saw Jongin and Minseok, each tied against a pole in the opposite corners of that very room. The stupid god wasn’t even trying to make this hard for them because he knew he would get what he wanted without making vain efforts regarding it.

_I was right._

_He is too confident in his own capabilities._

Jongin and Minseok listlessly lifted their heads up to look at them. They looked rather pale and sick in their faces which sent a pang of worry to Sehun’s heart along with confusion. From what he remembers, Chanyeol said that Ismus seemed to have control over Jongin’s power, not Minseok’s and considering the eldest Kim’s power it was virtually useless to tie them up.

_Then why?_

It was either Ismus has done something to Minseok or maybe, just maybe the ex-god didn’t know he has power too and the two brothers were planning on taking advantage of it at the right time.

That still didn’t explain why they looked so close to heaving their guts out.

“You didn’t expect the lousy over grown centipedes to stop us, did you?” Jongdae sneered with a smirk while confidently walking inside the room.

“Those lousy, overgrown centipedes helped me capture your captain.” Ismus countered in a condescending manner before stepping out of the dark.

Sehun immediately bit down on his tongue to keep himself from gasping when he saw his face and instinctively took a step back. Considering that he was a god before, the taller male had expected him to be decent looking at the very least but Ismus’ face was an exact copy of Sepa; just a more disgusting and slimy version.

_Fuck!_

_No wonder Anari didn’t want to be with him._

“What makes you think my captain is weak?” Jongdae mocked before crossing his arms over his chest.

“Did it ever occur to you that capturing them was way too easy?” Ismus laughed at that and walked towards them. Sehun attempted to take another step back, but Junmyeon behind him put a hand on his waist to prevent him from doing so.

Right.

They have a plan.

He can be disgusted later on when they are all safe, hopefully.

“You are saying you planned all this.”

“No, I am saying that it could be all pre-planned and planted.” The quartermaster replied with the shrug of his shoulders.

The smirk on Ismus’ face slipped away slightly.

“Don’t talk in riddles with me.”

“Or what?” Jongdae challenged.

“I will kill you!” The hideous god threatened with a glower, all hints of smiles or laughter gone from his deformed face.

“So bad-tempered.” Jongdae provoked with a tsk.

“I guess, that happens when you are disgraced and locked up in a lone island. Heard you can’t get out of here and your wife married someone else. Can’t say I blame her.”

“Jongdae,” Junmyeon warned when Ismus screeched in anger – just like those fucking centipedes – before tentacles suddenly appeared from his back. It was only then did Sehun realize the two tentacles that were already stretched out from Ismus’ back towards the opposite corners of the room.

_Those are not ropes._

Minseok and Jongin were tied against the pole with those slimy, yellow, disgusting tentacles. No wonder they looked so pale in the face and Minseok couldn’t do anything with his power. Feeling more anxious then before, Sehun fisted his hands by his sides and averted his gaze to look at Jongin who was looking straight back at him in worry and disapproval. It took no rocket science to infer what he was thinking.

The captain didn’t want him to be there at all.

His boyfriend’s gaze didn’t remain fixed on him for long though because soon there was a moment in the side of the room which attracted his attention. Sehun thoughtlessly followed his gaze with furrowed brows and couldn’t stop himself from gagging audibly when he saw just what Jongin was looking at.

It was Sepa, that god damn centipede again, but this time it was fucking monstrous. The taller male was sure that the beast could easily break through the wall of the room and still have some room to slouch. Its mouth was a freaking well and the size of its razor-sharp teeth was just about same as the sword that Jisoo has used earlier. The creature also apparently has its teeth embedded in human flesh as it ate away; blue fabric hung from its bloody mouth as it spat out bone after bone with a satisfying gurgle.

Sehun felt sick to his stomach.

Jongin was staring at him again, appearing slightly rushed and panicked, when he looked back at him. There was a certain helpless look in the captain’s eyes as his eyes jumped to look at something over Sehun’s shoulders before he subtly jerked his head back in the direction of the creature; trying to convey something that he wasn’t getting at all. 

_What?_

The taller male wanted to demand, but he couldn’t. All he could do was to look back at the creature. Yeah, it was revolting, but why did it make the other appear so freaked out. The captain can’t possibly be worried about being its next meal – that was so not Jongin – but then what was concerning him so much.

“Sehun-” His boyfriend began, at last, just before Sehun caught sight of exactly what was causing the other male so much distress.

Laid right in front of Sepa was Lord Oh – he was definitely going to be the next meal – seemingly dead and unmoving, but that wasn’t the thing that concerned him, what he was worried about was the fact that his father had Jongin’s figurehead necklace around his neck.

_Oh boy…_

_I was right._

_Jongin did lose the necklace._

Chanyeol had told him earlier that the crew has been roaming about an hour, trying to carefully navigate around the place when one of Ismus’ creatures have unexpectedly ambushed them and Jongin, sadly, had ended up being the only one in the line of fire of the bulky tail. Ismus along with Lord Oh and his crew have shown up with impeccable timing and strangely enough, after that the captain hadn’t been able to use his powers. Well…not to a great extent, that is.

Sehun knew exactly why now.

Ismus had no powers, well except for his control over Sepa. He had a hunch before, but now it was confirmed. Azure wasn’t some crystal globe like everyone else thought it to be. It was that figurehead silver necklace or at least it was inside it and Jongin needed it to channel his powers. If that ugly creature digested his father, it will digest the freaking necklace too. They had to think fast.

Forget it, they had to _move_ fast.

“N-No.” Sehun stuttered out to garner Jongdae’s and Junmyeon’s attention mainly. They came here with a plan and the first part of it was to find where the necklace was. Now that it was done, it was best to jump to the distraction part.

“Sehun,” Jongdae called out for him carefully, looking confused even when he tried to mask it.

“He was working for you! My father was working for you!” Sehun continued and tried to push down the rising urgency inside him to muster up the most livid expression he was capable of making before whirling around to face Ismus.

“Why did you kill him?” Lord, the sight in front of him was intolerable. Sehun wanted to look away so badly.

“He was of no use to me anymore,” Ismus replied with smugly before extending one of the tentacles in his direction. The taller male couldn’t stop his features from contorting at the abhorrent smell.

“Don’t worry. You will join him soon unless, of course, you bring the Azure keeper here and make him give me the crystal. If I am feeling generous I will save your father’s body from being mutilated too.” Sehun exchanged a look with Jongdae at that and proceeded forward when the quartermaster nodded his head. He must have seen the necklace too.

“I have Azure.” He announced confidently.

“Sehun, what the hell are you talking about?” Jongin indignantly demanded from his place, obviously not happy with the fact that he was the one playing this part instead of Jongdae and Junmyeon or maybe he was just playing along.

“I have it on me and I will give it to you willingly if you let my crew members go.” The taller male continued.

“You think I am stupid.” Ismus scoffed.

“Why would you have the Azure?”

“We stole it before coming here to negotiate.” He still didn’t seem to believe him.

“Show it to me and we’ll see.”

“You guys cannot-” Minseok started – the poor guy looked genuinely alarmed which was understandable since he still thought that the Azure was the crystal hidden inside Anari’s figurehead at the front of the ship – but Jongdae cut him off.

“We have to do this. We can’t let you and Jongin die just to protect a stupid crystal.” The quartermaster reasoned while stealthily following the movement of the necklace that Junmyeon has finally managed to get off Lord Oh’s neck with his power. Sehun really hoped that Minseok would somehow see it too and get the gist of their plan before doing something rash as soon as he is set free.

“How nice,” Ismus commented drily before beckoning Sehun forward.

“The Azure.” Letting out a trembling breath, the taller male pulled the shiny, blue-green crystal from his pocket and immediately took a step back when Ismus lunged for it.

“Let go of my crew members first or I will shatter this thing on the floor right this instant.” Sehun's heartbeat spiked up in a panic when more tentacles burst out of Ismus’ back.

“That will do nothing.”

“You don’t know that.” It was a very risky bargain because indeed it would do nothing, but the god has been stuck in this place for lord knows how long. He can’t be sure about that and it was evident from the way his slimy features contorted before he slowly let his grip fall lose around Jongin and Minseok.

“Hand it over to me, now.” Ismus sneered and retracted his overgrown limbs.

“My father-”

“Now!” The god screeched and charged in his direction which honestly scared Sehun enough for him to just throw the crystal piece in his direction.

What happened next was too fast for him to properly process because one second he was happy that Junmyeon has finally dropped the necklace in Jongin’s hand – it was what they came here for after all – but the other, he was fearfully trying to back away from Ismus who let out a shrieking noise of rage – he had a feeling that the god was able to feel that the crystal Azure was fake – before growing unnaturally big in size.

Sehun wasn’t even given a moment to react, he was too freaking dumbfounded before the huge ass tentacles swiped at him without any warning. Hot white pain shot up his side before he was flung across the room right beside his father in the heap of bones. There was blood against his face too though he wasn’t so sure whether it was his own – he had hit his head pretty hard – or someone else's; both possibilities were very likely. He could make out his name being shouted multiple times, but it was hard to respond. Heck! It was hard even to open his eyes, but he eventually did and then consequently wished that he hadn’t because Sepa was hovering right over him – seemingly done with the food in its mouth.

For a second, Sehun was positive that he was done for and the creature would take him in its mouth when it leaned down towards him, but to his luck – not exactly good – the beast, just like its owner, flung him away. A momentary thought that it must feed on dead humans only crossed the taller male’s mind before the back of his head hit the pole though before he could take another painful fall to the ground he was successfully alleviated in the air. It was okay. He preferred this than to be a snack for a Centipede out of all the things.

Among the chaotic noises that he could hear past the ringing in his head, Sehun felt gentle arms firmly catching him before there was a cool hand on his face urging him to keep his eyes open. It was easier said than done because darkness was lingering around the edges of his eyes and was threatening to take over his consciousness completely. The taller male tried his best to fight it but eventually got too tired to try. The last thing he heard before passing out completely was another horrendous cry from Ismus followed by some violent cursing.

* * *

“I can’t believe you lied to us!” Jongdae whiny voice quite literally stung his aching head.

“Jongdae for heaven’s sake be quiet.” Sehun whimpered and weakly held onto his head.

“I just got up after getting mauled.”

“That does not matter. Yixing healed you.” The taller male stared at the quartermaster incredulously.

“He couldn’t heal me completely because he was tired so I still have a splitting headache.”

“Yeah, but-”

“Cut it you two.” Minseok scolded before putting down a bowl of soup in front of Sehun.

“But Jongdae is right. What you did was very risky.”

“You guys wouldn’t have believed me otherwise. I had to say that Jongin told that to me himself. Plus, it isn’t like my guess was wrong.” Sehun pouted before taking hold of the spoon and dipping it into the bowl.

“The fact that it was your _guess_ only is the whole problem.” Jongdae pointed out smugly which only made the taller male scowl.

“It is not like you had any better idea. My idea worked and I would have dropped it if Jongin hadn’t quite literally confirmed it by gesturing towards the necklace while he was tied.” The taller male still wasn’t quite filled up on the details about what happened after he had passed out, but Baekhyun had been by his bed when he woke up and had filled him in.

Apparently, Junmyeon was the one to slow down his fall – figures – and had carried him back to the ship because Jongin had ordered everyone to get to the ship as soon as possible while he held Ismus back. It wasn’t possible to kill the god. He was immortal so of course, Sehun had been confused about what the captain actually aimed to do, but then Baekhyun had proceeded to tell him something about Anari’s appearance and then drowning of the whole island along with Ismus.

_I can’t believe I missed seeing Anari._

“He has a point.” Minseok agreed while settling down in one of the chairs and snapping the taller male out of his thoughts.

“Who has a point?” Sehun turned towards the entrance of the mess hall when he heard the captain’s question.

“Me, who else.”

“Of course, you.” Jongin snorted before walking inside.

“Jongdae, why are you being loud?”

“Forget about me,” Jongdae responded before turning towards his youngest brother.

“How can you never tell us that the real Azure was your freaking necklace?”

“Anari told me to keep it to myself only.” The captain replied with the shrug of his shoulders.

“ _Myself_ doesn’t include the cute boy you are aiming to show just how you bury your treasure, captain.” Sehun sputtered on his soup as soon as he heard that.

“Jongdae I swear-”

“I never told him anything.” Jongin cut his boyfriend off and glared at his elder brother, not even bothering to address the lewd remark.

“He noticed it on his own.”

“I am smart, you see.” Sehun snarked which only earned him a snort from the quartermaster.

“If you say so.” Jongdae finally conceded before turning back towards the captain.

“What’s the plan now? We sailing back home?”

“No, I want to linger around Helmi some more to make sure Lord Oh’s men won’t think of starting their agenda again. We also have to weed out people who know about Anari, but-” Jongin broke off to face Minseok.

“You, Chanyeol and Kyungsoo should take a passenger ship back home. Sooyoung is there alone and Kyungsoo needs to rest now. I don’t want him dealing with danger anymore and that is not possible if he stays with us.”

“Are you sure about that? Sending me and Chanyeol away would make a lot of things difficult in your task.” Minseok pointed out with a frown.

“That doesn’t matter.” The captain replied with the shake of his head.

“Sooyoung is soon going to give birth. You should be there with her.”

“Okay, then. I will go and let Chanyeol or Kyungsoo know about it.” Minseok approved before getting up.

“I am coming with you.” Jongdae butted in while hopping off his chair too.

“Why?” Jongin inquired with a ticked brow.

“So that you can be with your boyfriend alone.” The quartermaster replied with a serene smile which only caused Sehun to roll his eyes.

“Be original, Jongdae.”

“Fine, I want to see Kyungsoo’s reaction because he is definitely going to throw a tantrum.”

“You are so damn troublesome.” The captain complained under his breath before waving his hand.

“Get out.”

“Why? So that you can christen the mess hall- ow!” Jongdae yelped in pain when his eldest brother pulled at his ear.

“Start walking.” Sehun cackled under his breath – and almost choked on his soup – when Minseok dragged the quartermaster away.

“Are you alright?” The taller male turned to face his boyfriend right away.

“Of course, Yixing healed me.”

“I am sorry,” Jongin mumbled before reaching out to take hold of his hands.

“I should have protected you better.”

“It is not your fault, Jongin,” Sehun argued with a frown.

“You even told me to not leave the ship.”

“You really shouldn’t have left the ship.” The captain chastised with a frown.

“I was really worried to see you there.”

“Who would have saved your ass if I wasn’t there?” Sehun teased, but the tanned male only glared at him.

“You could have stayed out with the others.”

“Outside wasn’t that safe either, you know.” The taller male pointed out with an amused smile.

“Chanyeol along with the other guys spent the whole time keeping those disgusting Centipedes out while we were inside trying to trick Ismus. It would have been a nightmare if they were in there too. Plus, we didn’t know my father was dead. I was hoping to at least trick him.”

“But still…”

“Drop it, already. What’s done is done.” Sehun urged before furrowing his brows.

“What became of Ismus?”

“Anari banished him to the depths of the sea where no one is allowed,” Jongin replied with a small smile, still not quite over what happened.

“Like he had banished her?”

“Yeah, it is as safe as we could get right now. I am hoping she would find a way to finish him though.”

“Don’t worry, she will.” The taller male assured before getting up.

“Come.”

“Where to?” Jongin inquired before reluctantly taking his outstretched hand.

An idea, a little bit terrible one, formed in Sehun’s mind, but he was sure it would lift the captain’s spirit even if he would end up embarrassing himself. Biting down on his lower lip to stop himself from cracking up, the taller male leaned down, placed his lips against Jongin’s ears and lowered his voice in a whisper.

“Come show me how you bury your treasure, Captain.” His boyfriend choked right away.

“Did you just-”

“Yes, I did.” Jongin released an incredulous laugh as soon as Sehun confirmed the fact that he indeed quoted Jongdae – out of all people, _Jongdae_ – on him.

“Now, come on, let’s go.”

“To my cabin?” The captain inquired with a suggestive smirk which only made Sehun pinch his right cheek between his fingers.

“You wish.”

“You were the one who just asked me to show you how I burry my-”

“Okay!” The taller male cut his boyfriend off and pulled at his arm.

“We are going to find Kyungsoo because I kind of want to see him throwing a tantrum too.”

“Yeah,” Jongin accepted before getting up.

“I am sure Jongdae would be happy to know that at least one person appreciates his lame puns.”

_Bastard._

“Don’t you dare, Kim Jongin!”

“Ah, trust me Oh, you will see me daring a lot from now on.” The captain leered with a cunning smile before arrogantly walking out of the mess hall.

_Whatever convinced me to raise his spirits up?_

* * *

**Author's Note:**

> Before I start with my note I would let you know that I have half a smut scene written in my drafts, but that was taking me too long to write and I had a deadline so…let me know in the comments if you, uh, want some smashing uwu and I’ll see if I can finish it and post.  
> Moving on, this turned out to be a lot longer than I intended for it to be, but uh…things got out of hand. I just really enjoyed myself with this one. I think it is my favorite out of all the fics I have written so far LOL.  
> Besides, PIRATE Jongin is love. Seriously, I never really saw a SeKai Pirate au fic out here so I thought why not?  
> I hope you all enjoyed it just as much. Thank you so much for reading this long-ass trash of mine and hope to see you in the other round of this fest too because the mods are honestly love ^^
> 
> Kudos and Comments are very appreciated ♡


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